The New Flame of Konoha
by OkamiAmaterasu2015
Summary: Enter another person into the equation of Team seven. The course of Team seven had changed, for the better or for the worse, all because of a girl with a dark past who reentered the light... with a flourish and a blast! "My name is Kasai Amaterasu! Call me Ammy." O.C. character, Pairings will be mentioned later. Check profile for update status!
1. Chapter 1: The Double Massacre

**Chapter 1: The Double Massacre**

A girl had begun her trek home, observing her surroundings in boredom. She had been so focused on training for that she didn't notice the sun set. Her lips were drawn taut. "_My parents are gonna kill me… I've been out so late! Well, unless nīsan kills me first. He's always looked out for me." _A serene smile crossed her face as she looked to the sky. _"I'll just tell them that I was training for the genin exams. Nīsan will probably cover me. He's too awesome to... The moon? Oh no. Th-that story… Crap!"_ She broke into a dead run. "_One can never be to certain...not here... not tonight..."_

* * *

A legend tells of a full moon, glowing an ominous red, surrounded by a ring of light. That legend had only spelled out doom for the hero. That hero is now our heroine.

* * *

She stood before the Kasai home's property gates, staring at the residence in mild relief. The ephemeral feeling vanished, replaced with a dark foreboding, as she stepped through the threshold. The darkness grew oppressive. _"I have to enter. My family is in there. Bu-but what's with this killing intent? I-I...I'm scared...Mom and Dad have been planning something..." _She approached the entrance cautiously as the door swung open. She froze. "No. Nooooo. Not like this…," She whispered. She stared in incredulity at the maid, her body riddled with needles. The maid was dead. "A-Aya… No! This has gotta be a genjutsu or s-something."

She heard a voice echo down from upstairs. She stealthily slithered up the stairs, blocking out images of the dead. The voice laughed again. '_On my left_.' She turned her head seeing the door the master bedroom. "No..nononononononononono…," she whimpered.

*creak*

She stood, petrified. Her heart was pounding. She was sure she had seen the doorknob turn. She reached for the door. The voice rang out clearly, "Help me Amaterasu!"

She gasped. "Nīsan!" She slammed the door open and recoiled. The intolerable odor of blood overwhelmed her senses. Her parents had been stabbed, once, through the chest. The silhouette of her brother, outlined by the moonlight, stood over the corpses. She saw a glint in his hand.

A katana shone dangerously in his hand, dripping with a dark liquid.

"Mom…Dad…Everyone… You…YOU BASTARD!"

She charged at her brother in a blind rage, though mindful of the bodies, fist cocked for a punch. He blocked her arm and swung his blade at her waist. Seeing this she spun around and leapt up aiming a roundhouse kick at his head. He ducked underneath her foot, and grabbed her ankle and threw her back to the opposite wall. There was a small crater.

"Ahahahaha…Do you hate me for what I've done? Do you want to seek vengeance for this blasphemy?" A voice called out from the darkness. His dark eyes, being the only thing visible, stared coldly at the trembling visage of his only sibling.

"*Choke* *Sob*"

"Ahahahaha… It's your entire fault though. If you had not entered this room so early, you would not have seen this. Hmhmhmhm." He chuckled.

"Why! Why? Our own parents! Our entire family! Was it cause they were working on that thing? Why _aniki?_" She spat the last word as one would spit poison. "WHY? *sob*"

"Ahhh. You see, dear Amaterasu-chan, people have to do what they have to do. Understand this, or you _will_ die in the very near future." The traitorous man enshrouded in the shadows suddenly appeared behind her and tapped the pressure point on her shoulder. She fell unconscious, body plummeting to the ground, her tears still streaming down her face.

His eyes suddenly softened at his sister's vulnerable form. "I'm sorry…imōto." He vanished in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

Two hours later, the ANBU crossed the threshold of the home and gasped in horror. "Who…could have done this?"

* * *

The noble village of Konoha was unnaturally somber, whispers telling of the barbaric _disposal_ of the entire Kasai family. The rumors told of bodies hacked to pieces, and blood splattered liberally on the walls, the scent of carrion ripe throughout the house. The truth, though, was far from that. The ANBU were only shocked due to the ease the trespasser entered, the murder site being a well protected home. All were assassinated carefully as to leave as little trace of the ordeal as possible. The room that had the most blood in it was the room with the only survivor, only knocked unconscious.

The worst thing was that, that wasn't the only massacre that happened that night. The noble Uchiha clan, who had been the most powerful clan since the beginning of Konoha, had been decimated. There was also a lone survivor, a boy, named Uchiha Sasuke. Oh, how everybody pitied him, how everybody pampered him after the massacre. They all forgot about the once thriving clan that would have rivaled the Hyuuga and Uchiha in power over time.

The fact that there were consecutive mass murders was enough for civilians to tell horror stories of the evil that transpired, and shinobi preparing for the worst. Visitors left the village, heading towards the safety of their own homes. Konoha lost a lot of business that day. Throughout the chaos, the only other survivor was forgotten. And she would stay forgotten for quite a long time.

* * *

Two years later, the overlooked girl returned to the forefront of everyone's minds, as she was thrown out of the local orphanage. The haughty manager glared down at the child. "Brat! How dare you defy my orders! Who do you think you are, defending the demon scum!"

The nine year old glared at the biased woman. "*cough* Screw off. He's been the object of your hatred for long enough! I don't know him that well but he deserves better. The entire village mistreats him so obviously, I can easily tell why, too. Think about it." A smirk blossomed on her face. "Think of what our dear leader, Hokage-sama would think if he knew what I learned from your, displays of _affection_ you give Naruto daily." A soft, dark chuckle floated from her lips. "You treat him as if he killed your loved ones, you beat him, you scorn him, and the worst he's ever done is paint on Hokage Mountain! Hah… If you noticed, his birthday also falls on the day of the supposed death of the Kyuubi! Same death, same year! Even a clueless idiot could figure out what had happened that da-"

The woman kicked her in the stomach. Hard. Amaterasu was sent rolling to the middle of the street.

"That is enough!" She fumed, "Do not speak of that day!" Amaterasu was kicked again.

*cough**gag* " Fu-"

An ANBU with a Dog mask suddenly appeared and carried the girl to safety. "You should be more careful."

"And you should put me down," she immediately retorted with a grimance.

"Haha. What? Why? Do you want to walk to the Hokage's office?" he laughed humorously.

"Um. Touché. Why the Hokage's office though?" she questioned.

"Easy. They want you back at the academy."

"Ummm… Okay…I guess." She shrugged.

* * *

After three more years, this time filled with training, Amaterasu was finally scheduled to reenter the Shinobi Academy so she could take the genin exam to become a shinobi. Her taijutsu and ninjutsu skills have improved quickly over the two years, easily putting her at a chūnin rank at best. Her genjutsu skills though, didn't fare as well. Her abnormally large chakra reserves made genjutsu extremely taxing. Because of this, her stamina and chakra control was improved through extracurricular activities... Her motivation to become the strongest kunoichi, not avenge her family, was incredibly odd compared to the Uchiha, who was dead set on revenge.

"It hasn't changed much since the last time I've been here," Amaterasu remarked. She was a bit displeased at being accompanied by the Hokage like she was a little kid.

The old man chuckled.

"What jīsan?"

The hokage straightened up and looked at the child with an insulted look on his face."I was about to wish you luck, brat. Since you're being so rude though..."

"Brat. Humph. I am definitely not a brat. I find that offensive jīsan," The girl scoffed.

The Hokage smiled.

When they arrived in front of Amaterasu's new classroom, the Hokage slid the door open and informed Iruka that the new student had arrived. Sarutobi moved to one side of the door and let the girl enter the room.

As she walked towards the front of the room with a quiet stride, Iruka shouts, over the unmistakably loud voice of Naruto.

"Class we have a new student today!" A vein grew on his forehead in his annoyance. "EVERYBODY, SETTLE DOWN!" He yelled. The entire class suddenly became much quieter.

"Thanks guys," he said sarcastically as he turned his attention to the new arrival. "Okay now introduce yourself."

"Okay ummm..."

"Iruka"

"Okay Iruka-sensei. My name is Kasai Amaterasu. Call me Ammy. Douzo yoroshiku onegai shimasu." She flashed a victory sign with a catty smirk.

Everyone looked her up and down. She had brown hair, with black low lights, that seemed to have been carelessly hacked off with a kunai. It was tied up in a ponytail reminiscent of a certain snake woman's. Her dark side bangs shaded her left eye. She wore a cerulean t-shirt that accented her equally blue eyes, cut to reveal her mesh undershirt covered shoulders. Her shorts were black, rising to mid thigh with bandages wrapped around her right leg. Her kunai holster was fastened over the bandages. She wore black fingerless gloves and black standard shinobi sandals. A green sweater was slung over her arm. Her skin was creamy in color and unscarred. Her brightly colored eyes were strangely lackluster. As a further note, they noticed that the girl had a petite build, being about 130 cm tall. She still seemed to be ten years old.

She angled her head and stared back to Iruka's desk.

"So where is my seat Iruka-sensei?"

"Anywhere you want, there are six empty seats," replied Iruka, annoyed at the loud mouth Naruto. He glared at the boy. Naruto he grinned back.

Her eyes skimmed over the room, settling on the oh-so-beckoning, empty seat between the brooding Uchiha kid and Uzumaki Naruto, the prankster of Konoha. 'Such polar opposites sitting so near each other...' She tread way over to the boys. She didn't want to be alone in the back of the class, seeing as the only other spaces were in the back corners. She stood in front of them.

"Hey can I sit there?" She asked with a smile.

"No. My books are there, you baka. Sit somewhere else," he replied irritated. "This school doesn't need more of you fan girl types. Go away."

In the background Shikamaru lazily murmured to Chouji "…And this is where she walks away depressed or insists to sit there like any other girl," with his eyes closed and chin resting on folded arms.

"Yep", Chouji replied while stuffing his face.

Ammy's eyes glinted in anger, as she mocked in a high pitched voice, "_No. My books are sitting there, you baka. And I can't move them anyways because my little Uchiha arms are too weak to grab them since all I do is brood like an old woman all day. And since you didn't refer to me with an offensive nickname, I'll immediately assume that you're a pathetic fan girl too! _Oh shut up." She snatched his two books with a swift swing of her of her arm and hefted them into his face.

The room was eerily quiet.

She smirked. "Poor little Uchiha. Cat got your tongue?" she asked with a sickly sweet voice. She launched over the desk into the now 100% empty seat and laughed to herself. The second her butt touched the seat the room erupted in sound. The boys all broke out in laughter, banging on the desks. The girls… well…shrieked at the perpetrator for doing such a horrible thing to their idol.

Ammy blinked. She turned to Naruto and asked, "Are all these girls part howler monkey or something?"

Naruto blinked. Several times. His jaw fell slack as he murmured, "I've been messing with Sasuke for years and he's never ever been..shocked to silence... Ammy… You ARE AWESOME!"

She grinned, "Thanks."

As the two talked, Shikamaru and Chojji shared a glance. Shikamaru, for once, was completely alert.

"This is the first time that you've been wrong in one of these things, Shika."

"Well this is a pretty interesting development…"

"Yep."

* * *

"…Is this class always this loud?"

"This is probably quieter than usual," Naruto replied.

"Hey, so what do you want to do after you leave the academy?"

"I'm going to be hokage, dattebayo!" Naruto shouted, jumping out of his seat. Everybody gave Naruto the death glare.

"Cool. I wanna be strong so I can prevent the corruption in our village from killing innocents. That's all I can really think of," she smiled. "When you become a kage, you'd better make me ANBU captain or something."

"Hey by the way why are you carrying a sweater? Its hot today." asked Naruto

"I heard that there was going to be rain later today." Ammy replied nonchalantly.

Sasuke suddenly laughed…well scoffed "Baka there's not even a cloud in the sk-"

*BOOM*

Everyone flinched as thunder roared.

"You having a bad day, broody?"

"Don't call me that!" he snapped back angrily

"Well sorry.-cough-Broody kid is broody-cough cough-"

A vein pulsed on his forehead as she giggled.

"Chill Broody."

* * *

When class ended she put on her sweater and dashed to her apartment. She grabbed a small basket inside covering it as she left her place debating about what foods she should buy. Thank god Hokage-sama helped me get useable stuff in this apartment. It's so much better than the stupid orphanage place. As she pulled her hood onto her head someone ran into her and knocked her into the ground.

"What's the big idea you jer- Naruto?"

"Ammy? What're you doing here?" he asked surprised.

"I live here" she pointed to her apartment, "and I'm going grocery shopping baka."

"What you live there!? I've been wondering who moved next door!" He laughed.

"You're soooo loud."

"SO?"

"Shut up," she smirked.

She stood up and walked down the steps to the street while brushing dust of her back.

"Wait up Ammy! Can I come with you?"

"Sure the more the merrier. Just get an umbrella or something first."

"K"

They started to talk about the places they liked to go. The conversation evolved to people they knew, hobbies, favorite T.V shows, and eventually food.

"So do you like ramen?"

"Meh ramen is good when I'm too lazy to cook. I just wish I knew where a good ramen place is."

"OHHHHHH I know! There's this awesome place called Ichiraku's! It's amazing there!"

"Cool, we'll go there after I buy groceries."

"So you know how to cook?"

"Of course I do. I do live by myself anyway and I need to eat to live. Baka." She said jokingly.

"That is true but I usually just end up eating instant ramen."

"Wait… everyday?"

"Every day that I don't go to Ichiraku's."

"…That's really unhealthy…and how do you have enough money to…" she replied unable to finish her thought after being interrupted by a giddy "Saaaaakura-chan!" from Naruto. "GO AWAY NARUTO!" was the instantaneous reply as said pinkette had a huge vein pulsating on her head. Ammy stared dumbly at the scene for a moment and shrugged. "Oh well. I'll just get some stuff and food and go."

She filled her basket with a tray of meat, vegetables, a jar of rice and some snacks. "Oooh…chocolate," she giggled. She pulled a small bundle of ryo and handed it to the shop keeper with a smile. She left the shop to see Naruto standing in the street with a rejected look. She smirked.

"Hey Naruto I'm going to go home first. See ya."

He snapped out of it, and with a "Wait up!" shouted out, he chased after her.

Sakura, who was still nearby heard their outbursts stood there confused for a bit.

"Together?"

* * *

"NA-RU-TO!"

"-SNORE-" Ammy poked Naruto in the gut.

"Wha?" Ammy quickly filled him in.

"Nyehehehehe! Sorry, Iruka-sensei!"

Naruto's reached to scratch his head while blue eyes closed as a grin made its way to Uzumaki Naruto's face. He yawned as Umino Iruka's visage twitched dangerously. Ammy grinned as well.

"You shouldn't be sleeping when I'm giving an important lecture!" he yelled as vein on his forehead grew more prominent, "You are now preparing for the genin exams in two months. Yet you haven't changed a bit from the-"

Naruto glared fiercely as she stood up, "I have changed!"

"Have not!"

Ammy rolled her eyes_. 'Mature.'_

"Have too! I have goggles now, see!"

To emphasize his point, Naruto pointed at the green goggles on his forehead.

Iruka sighed as all anger left him, only to be replaced by annoyance and the feeling of futility, "That's not the point, Naruto…"

"Bah!" he yelled, "I don't need your stupid lectures, Iruka-sensei! I'll still be the greatest!"

He jumped over the desk as he made a beeline for the window with, Ammy tagged along and blew a raspberry at the teacher.

_'Stubborn and annoying? Definitely. Convincing? Nope,_' Ammy laughed to herself_._

Iruka ran towards the window as the trouble-making 12 year old successfully booted out of Iruka's classroom.

"COME BACK HERE!" he yelled after him.

"NEEEEEEEVAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Ammy and Naruto cackled mischievously.

The class of aspiring Shinobi watched this all in interest before Inuzuka Kiba suddenly had an _awesome_ idea, "Iruka-sensei!"

Said person turned his glare at said source, "What. Is. It. Kiba?"

"Chouji used the toilet, and he needs your help!"

Umino Iruka considerably paled. This, however, didn't deter the Inuzuka's plan, "I think he said something about eating too much during lunch."

Queue in horrified expression here.

"CHOUJI! HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO CLOG UP THE TOILET!"

Iruka ran out of the classroom, leaving behind a grinning Inuzuka, "Thanks a lot, Chouji!"

Amakichi Chouji ducked out of his hiding place as he smiled at Kiba, bag of chips in tow, "No problem, Kiba! Come on, Shikamaru! –munch, munch- I want more chips!"

Kiba jumped over his desk, followed by an eager Chouji who was trailed closely by a not-so-enthusiastic Shikamaru. All three ran toward the window just as Iruka-sensei returned to the classroom, red faced and furious.

"Oi! Naruto, Ammy!" Kiba laughed gleefully as they jumped out of the escape route, "WAIT FOR US!"

"COME BACK HERE, YOU BRATS!"

The chaos that occurred above… -EHEM! - The events above occurred during Kaneko Amaterasu's first week at school.

First _week._

Iruka... he is doomed.

* * *

A year of the academy and them hanging out went by, until the day of the genin exams.

"OY, NARUTO! Did you practice for the exams? I head they're going to test us on cloning." Ammy shouted across the school yard, running towards Naruto.

"WHAT! I suck at cloning!" he face planted.

Ammy's sweat dropped. "I knew it."

"Whadoyamean _'I knew it'_?"

"Exactly the way I put it. I asked if you wanted to practice with me but you said you were '_busy_' baka."

They kept at this conversation while walking to class. Shikamaru and Chouji and Kiba over heard this and snickered. Naruto turned red, yelled shut up and marched to class by himself with a huge tickmark on his head. "I'll pass ttebayo!"

Ammy looked at him and shrugged and walked to class by herself with giggle.

When the tests, Haruno's anxiety was made clear. Ammy irritation slowly rose as Sakura reviewed all the basic hand signs and basic Ninjutsu in the seat across her diagonally. Ammy sighed. '_What an over achiever. God she's going to psyche herself out and mess up. At least she studied though. Unlike Naruto. I'm worried that he won't pass. He'd better pass…Or I'll castrate him. Without antiseptic. Sasuke looks…confident… sort of…not really...emotionless jerk. I wonder what happened to make him have such an indifferent look in his eyes…Ha! He's as interesting as he is incredibly boring'_. Iruka stuck his head in and said, "Haruno Sakura?" as Kiba triumphantly marched right in with a grin, proudly displaying his new forehead protector. She visibly and audibly jumped out of her seat still going over the seals. Five minutes later she came back in smiling. '_What do you know? She passed_.' Iruka's voice brought her back from her thoughts. "Kasai Amaterasu?"

"Awwwwwww."

She grudgingly stood up and trudged to the door. "Woah! I just can't _wait_ to take this_ super_ helpful test!." she grumbled sarcastically. In the testing room she was told to perform the bunshin no jutsu. She flashed through the signs quicker than Iruka and her other sensei, Mizuki, could follow and created four clones. It was smoke and soundless, proving her exceptional chakra control. Her two sensei didn't really take notice. Iruka smiled and proclaimed "Pass." She walked up and grabbed a forehead protector and stuffed it in her pocket. "Thanks." She murmured and walked back to the waiting room with Iruka. She pasted a smirk on her face.

When class ended two hours later, or rather the exams ended, Ammy suddenly saw the huge crowd of parents and students all happy and excited and stuff. She had felt hollow as she weaved through the crowd, careful to avoid unnecessary contact.'I wish I had somebody that would fuss over me…NO DON'T THINK LIKE THAT!' She shook her head pasted a blank expression that rivaled Sasuke's on her face and got out of the crowd. She looked around and saw Naruto sitting on the swing depressed.

"Hey"

"Hey…"

"So you okay?"

"Yeah…"

He's so out of character! I've gotta cheer him up. "Cheer up, things just might work out." She giggled , trying to lighten his mood.

"Okay…"grinned looking a bit less depressed.

"I was going to buy groceries. Want to come? "

"Nah" he forced a laugh.

"Okay… see you…" she said a bit unwillingly.

'_That settles it I'll make him a bento.'_

A few minutes Mizuki-sensei appeared by Naruto and set a very dangerous turn of events in action.

* * *

A few hours later, she placed her hand made bento covered with an orange and black cloth in front of his apartment thinking "Hmmm what happened to Naruto? He's never out this late… wait…why am I even worrying? Arrrrgh! Well at least tomorrow were going to be put into teams…"

She walked the five steps back to her apartment, took a shower and got ready for bed with her hair still sopping wet. Thoughts jumbled through her head while she got her clothes for the upcoming day ready. She hopped into bed and quickly slipped into a deep sleep.

* * *

"RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN NNNNNGGGGG"

"…damn" she groaned as she threw her alarm clock against the opposite wall. It got severely dented with a new crack in the wall formed by the impact, alongside the twenty two others. She grumbled under her breath as she got dressed. She looked in the floor length mirror debating whether or not to put her forehead protector around her forehead, where it was supposed to go, or somewhere else. She tied it to her thigh. "Nah" she grunted and removed he headband. She tried her waist, and her arm but it didn't feel right to her.

"Aww what the heck." She made her decision and tied it loosely around her neck. "I guess that's fine" she mumbled. She made some tea, drank it quickly after it cooled and left, locking he door, barely remembering to check Naruto's apartment…and almost got hit in the face by his door.

"Eep!" she squeaked the color draining from her face.

"Ehh? Ammy-chan?" he squinted.

"Watch where you're going, please." She growled, trying not to punch him.

"AHAHAHAHAH. Sorry! Ohhhh! Hey lookie lookie! I passed the genin exam!"

The earlier issue was forgotten, and her former ebullience returned "What? Lemme see!" She snatched his head band and examined it. "YATTA!" she jumped and hugged him. "I'm so happy! So how'd you get Iruka to pass you?" she handed him back his headband.

"Well I learned this technique-ttebayo!"

"What technique?"

"Well long story short, I learned the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu with this one scroll and Iruka saw and passed me! He said it was a very advanced jutsu-ttebayo!" he shouted giddily leaving out the fight.

"Really!" '_But my clan taught me that jutsu right after I was taught chakra control…. I guess it goes to show that my clan used to be training Nazis.'_

"Wait! We're going to be late for the explanatory meeting! Today they're splitting us up into teams!"

"Shoot, I forgot. Let's race!"

"Meh. Okay. Don't cry when I beat you," she smirked.

"Hey!"

They both raced to the academy with ten minutes to spare and smashed the door open.

"HAFF HAFF- I beat you-HAFF HAFF," Naruto gasped for air.

"I guess you did. -sigh-"

"How are you not tired?"

"Didn't I tell you? I've been doing more stamina training."

"NO YOU DIDN'T!" he looked at the clock "... Wait you said we were going to be late!"

"I lied."

"HEY!"

She chuckled at his response and quietly walked to her seat.

"Yo…broody."

"Yo, baka"

"So you're still calling me a baka? Ahh well. So who do you want in your team?"

'_You._' "With anyone that doesn't annoy me," he muttered.

"So… nobody right?" she smirked as she sat down. Naruto flopped down on his seat mumbling to himself. Ammy and Sasuke continued her near one sided conversation with Sasuke answering with the occasional grunt and very rare sentence while looking forward, until Haruno Sakura sashayed over.

"Sasuke? May I sit next to you? " she asked in a sickeningly sweet and tone and smiled.

"Ahem."

"Oh." She looked at Ammy with a look of utter contempt and said "Well you might as well move somewhere else. It's not like you're going to make it onto his team, class idiot."

"It's not like it matters either."

They continued arguing, well Sakura continued arguing, while Naruto was in Heaven and Hell. To his direct left was Ammy, his first best friend that really worried and cared about him. But to his far left, in the isle was Haruno Sakura-chan, his crush. She wore her headband like a girl would normally wear a hair band. She was smiling and her emerald eyes were sparkling, but it wasn't because Naruto was beside her. To Sakura's right was Uchiha Sasuke, the bastard that Sakura liked. She was trying to convince him, and failing, to get rid of Ammy and let her sit in Ammy's spot. Ammy looked like she could barely abstain from round housing her. Sasuke wore his headband like Naruto wore his, the traditional way. He was looking off to the side, quiet as usual. Sakura was staring at him and her face was rivaling her unusual hair color. Naruto didn't really think her hair was weird, if anything, it made it so much easier for him to find her. As one would guess, only three things occupied Naruto's mind on a daily basis: Ramen, Ninja (Hokage specifically, Naruto was an expert on them), Ammy, her occasional tasty bento, and Sakura-chan. He didn't really mind being 'stupid' since it made more room for what he liked. He got frustrated at Sakura talking to Sasuke for so long and leapt to the front of his desk and glared at him from two inches away. The guy, no idiot, in the row in front of him stretched and bumped into him, moving him just enough to...

"Dude my ba-"

…kiss him. And everyone saw. Ammy blushed and suppressed a laugh. Sakura and every other girl in the room were glaring at him. The guys were trying not to howl with laughter like Kiba, and were barely successful. His thoughts at that split second were "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" and "Ammy and Sakura saw! This can't be happening!"

"Naruto" Sakura growled and cracked her knuckles, a dark aura surrounding her. "You're annoying."

"-GULP-" he slid back to his seat.

Everyone was broken out of their thoughts by Iruka-sensei walking in with a list and yelling for everyone to get to their seats, pointedly looking at Sakura. He stood at the front of the class, gave them the boring speech about their duties as genin, and then he started reading names off a list. Naruto half listened, mostly for his name, Ammy's and Sakura-chan's. Not hearing them for the first squad, he decided to keep daydreaming. After six squads were formed, Naruto heard his name.

"Squad 7: Uzumaki Naruto...Haruno Sakura..."

Naruto had a huge smile on his face as he stood up with his fists held up in triumph. 'IT PAID OFF! Wishing for this has paid off!' he thought in joy while he mentally skipped around on Cloud 9. He Sakura, on the other hand, was depressed. She had her head on the desk and held it as if she had a headache. 'Out of all the people in class, it had to be Naruto. I would have preferred Ino-pig to be on my team if it meant Naruto wasn't here, even if it meant competition for Sasuke-kun. That is if he wound up on my team at all,' she thought.

"And Uchiha Sasuke."

Naruto and Sakura had completely reversed their positions and thoughts. Now Sakura was on Cloud 9 thinking, 'I'm on Sasuke-kun's team! Who cares if Naruto is here.' Inner Sakura was partying and yelled, 'Hell Yeah!'. Naruto was holding his head and thinking, 'why did that teme have to be on my team? Now Sakura-chan will be paying attention to him and not me.'

Another shinobi ran in and handed him another list and whispered something to Iruka. He opened the scroll and skimmed for changes in the roster.

"And strangely enough, with a last minute addition to team seven, Kaneko Amaterasu."

Naruto perked up a little.

"WHAT!? Who's ever heard of a four-man cell?" Ammy yelled.

At the same time "Iruka-sensei! Why does a top student like me have to be on the same team with Uchiha Sasuke?!"

Iruka rubbed the back of his head "To be honest Ammy, we were expecting two more students but they never came." He turned to Naruto," As for you Naruto, you have been paired with the Top Rookie and Kunoichi of the Year to balance out the team, and with Sakura as the one balancing the team out genjutsu-wise. This is what happens when we evenly divide a group's abilities dobe."

Laughter ensued.

"Don't pull my leg, dobe."

Naruto clenched his fist. "What did you say?" he growled, blue eyes flashing lividly.

"You wanna fight, dobe?"

More laughter.

"Why you-"

"Stop it Naruto!" Sakura yelled from the row behind.

"Okay."

"Haha!" a gentle smile appeared on Ammy's face.

Wait…

There was something oddly fishy about what Iruka had just said.

Top Rookie and Kunoichi….

Kunoichi… and not Sakura…

Kasai Amaterasu..!

Top Kunoichi of the Year..!

"AMATERASUUUUUU? HER! TOP KUNOICHI!" Sakura and Ino's shriek resonated in the classroom as everyone shared looks of equal disbelief.

Umino Iruka was, at the moment, ready to explode.

* * *

The Hokage Tower was situated at the heart of Konoha. This has been made so for several reasons. But right now, the Third Hokage assumed, the most important of these reasons was because it allowed him access to every part of the city in his Crystal Ball.

The Academy was, particularly, very lively today.

He closed his eyes briefly as he turned to look at the 9 gathered jōnin before him. When he opened them again, though, all of them were looking at him expectantly.

He coughed lightly before speaking, "I have gathered all of you here today to remind you of your duties. Your task is to evaluate the 27 graduates, and judge them justly, if they are fit to be accepted in the Shinobi Ranks as Genin," he gestured casually towards the ball, "As you can see, this year's batch of Genin are quite… interesting." _'And loud_.' Everyone added as an afterthought.

"Need I not remind you that the test will be either five: Bell Test, Circle Test, Survival Test, 'Tag' Test and 'Freestyle' Test. Provided that the last method mentioned is based on the standard criteria in judging."

He gave Mitarashi Anko a pointed look before continuing, "Deadline for evaluation will be tomorrow at 9 am. You have already received your respective data about this mission, and if there are no more questions..?"

"Er…" a jōnin hesitantly said as he raised a hand, "Kunoichi of the Year, sir..?" he said as he pointed to the Crystal Ball where Ammy's red face was visible.

_"Hey! I worked hard for that title, you-!"_

* * *

"Hey!" she growled as she glared in Ino's direction, "I worked hard for that title, you little bit-!"

"HA! AS IF!" Ino haughtily flipped her hair, "Everyone knows how I should get that title! There has obviously been a mistake!"

Sakura glared at Ino. "No I should have made top kunoichi Ino-pig!"

They glowered at each other, then shrugged and teamed up.

Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura sent a spine-shivering glare in the Chūnin's direction, "Right, Iruka-sensei?" they asked in unison.

"I'm sorry, you two," at this, the Yamanaka's jaw dropped and the Haruno was steaming in unbridled fury, "But Ammy rightly earned 'Kunoichi of the Year'."

"WHY!"

* * *

"When Ammy was accepted into the Shinobi Section around 4 years ago before the… incident," the Hokage explained to the disbelieving Jōnin, "She was already recognized as the most talented kunoichi-in-training out there."

"Due to the… persistence of the Council to remove her from the program, and her recent reinstatement, Ammy was allowed to remain in the Shinobi Section provided that she enrolls in Geisha classes to make up for her missing kunoichi classes."

"Geisha? You mean-"

* * *

"That's right, Ino, Sakura. Ammy had to go through another class just so she could stay in the Shinobi Section."

The Geisha Classes were given as an elective to the Kunoichi who were in their 3rd Year. However, due to certain… factors (-cough-Uchiha Sasuke-cough-) all of the Kunoichi chose to stay and continue in Ninja Training.

"Why would Ammy do all that just so she could get out of the Kunoichi classes?" Ino asked. She suddenly turned towards said brunette as she sent her a righteous glare, "YOU JUST WANT TO BE CLOSE TO SASUKE-KUN, DON'T YOU!"

"Hell no! I just didn't want to end up like you, you pathetic excuse of a shinobi." Ammy scoffed. She was incredibly pissed.

"AT LEAST _I'M_ NOT TRAINING TO BE A _SLUT_!" Sakura screeched.

"Geisha classes are just acting classes with a fancier name, morons." Ammy sunk lower in her seat. She clearly didn't want to start a fight with a comrade.

"YOU CAN'T EVEN _REALLY_ BE KUNOICHI OF THE YEAR! YOU AREN'T EVEN _IN_ THE KUNOICHI CLASSES YOU _WHORE_!"

"That's it." Ammy slammed her fists on the desk and stood up, glaring at Sakura and Ino, a feral snarl ripping out of her throat.

Three girls looked ready to jump at each other before Iruka-sensei had intervened, "SHUT UP, ALL THREE OF YOU!"

* * *

"She took Geisha Classes?" Yuuhi Kurenai asked with slight interest, "Was she any good?"

The Hokage smiled a strange smile as he answered her question, "She was exceptional, actually."

"Yeah, but," Shiranui Genma said with the same, incredulous look in his eyes, "Wasn't Ammy as much of a troublemaker as Naruto?"

"Yes, but she was a very talented and hardworking troublemaker."

* * *

"ITAI!"

Ammy whined while she nursed her bruised forehead, "Why am I the only one who gets the whack, Iruka-sensei…?"

Iruka looked menacingly at her, "Why? Do you want another one?"

She shook her head.

The tired Chūnin returned to his podium and sent the class another glare before he spoke, " Amaterasu was chosen as K.o.t.Y because of these reasons: among the graduating Kunoichi this year, Amaterasu was the best in Ninjutsu, and Taijutsu. Alongside all of those, she was commended by her Geisha Instructor."

There were several 'pops' as jaws dropped to the floor. Sakura lamented about her oh-so-close-to-the-top-scores-but-not-quite in the background.

Iruka sighed resignedly, "Well, that took a long time."

* * *

Yamanaka Ino fumed as she stomped out of the class room. Sakura was enraged as well, but she went her separate ways to look for her precious team-mate. The Green Genin immediately made way for her as she cussed and incoherently mumbled something about 'stupid slut of an idiot' which, from another's point of view, made her sound totally schizophrenic.

I mean, wasn't she a 'stupid slut of an idiot'?

Her sour mood prolonged until she reached the library. Ino angrily glared at the shelves which housed the book she was looking for. Walking down the aisle, she roughly grabbed a thick, cream-colored volume entitled 'Ninja Book of Wisdom Volume7'and opened it to look for 'Geisha'.

_Geisha - A member of a professional class of women in Japan whose traditional occupation is to entertain men, in modern times, particularly at businessmen's parties in restaurants or tea houses. The Japanese word geisha literally means "art person," and singing, dancing, and playing the shamisen are indispensable talents for a geisha, along with the ability to make conversation. Many geisha are also adept at flower arranging, performing the tea ceremony, or calligraphy. The main function of the geisha is to provide an atmosphere of chic and gaiety for her wealthy clientele. Geisha are usually exquisitely dressed in traditional kimonos and delicately mannered and have knowledge not only of the past but also of contemporary gossip._

"Is this… a joke..?"

Her hands shook as the book loudly fell on the floor.

"AMATERASU IS NOT A GEISHA! SHE'S NOTHING BUT A SLUT!"

"Ssssssssshhhhhhhh!"

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke sat silently next to the window as everyone exited the classroom. He was still in slight disbelief about the four man cell and the stuff about Ammy being a Geisha.

Geisha? Her? Right.

'Hn. I suppose she is pretty, with high cheekbones and large, too-blue eyes. She does have a cute nose, and an effeminate chin. Her hair is messy and uneven and different shades of chocolate brown but it actually makes her look gorgeous-'

Wait.

…

What?

He raised an eyebrow when he found Amaterasu right in front of his face, standing outside the window.

'Hn. Pretty indeed.'

She didn't smell like strawberries of flowers, she didn't have a smell at all, actually, which was very good when you're a ninja. You're not supposed to smell like anything when you're in a mission. Or you'll die.

"Oy, broody! Want to eat lunch together?" she asked holding out a bento wrapped in blue. "Naruto's trying to convince Sakura to eat lunch with him and I don't want to eat by myself."

He smirked at her, "Got rejected by Uzumaki, Kasai?"

She scoffed as she jumped over the ledge to sit next to him, "No, I just wanted to eat with you out of the goodness of my heart! Stupid." she rolled her eyes and grinned. "He was just being a lovesick puppy! But that's okay. Sakura, on the other hand…"

She stopped opening her lunch box to look at him weirdly, "I don't think I'd be able to take it if half of my team already acted like jerks! We haven't even been a team for half a day."

Sasuke glared at her.

Ammy merely brushed him off, "Yeah, well. We're teammates anyway. I can't do anything about that."

"Hn. Baka."

She ignored him in favor of eating her lunch, unwrapped her bento. She opened it, pulled out chopsticks, said, "Itadakimasu" and stuffed some food in her mouth, chewing carefully. Sasuke immediately noticed that her lunch looked good, "Hey, baka, did you make that?"

"Hm?" she looked at him curiously, the chopsticks still in her mouth, "Oh. Of course I did. We were taught how to cook in the Geisha classes. And I live by myself. I need to know how to cook anyway."

He snorted in disbelief, and Ammy glared angrily at him, "What's the matter with everyone acting like that? Why don't you believe I'm actually a Geisha? Who kicks butt, by the way!"

Sasuke smirked at her, "You just said butt. Geisha's don't say those words."

"Yeah! Well I'm different!"

"Obviously."

She finished nearly all the food. Then she looked at him in a polite manner, "Do you want proof or something? That I'm actually Geisha?"

"You won't be able to come up with one."

A tick formed on her forehead, "ARGH! I'll show you!"

She angrily stalked out of the room and banged the door behind her as Sasuke smirked to himself, 'There's just no way…'

The door opened, and she walked in…

Sasuke was sorely tempted to gape.

She walked differently. Acted differently. It was as if she was born with that personality. She was still wearing the same clothes, but what was on Sasuke's mind was how the girl walking towards him was not the girl with him before.

She stared at him worriedly, "Sasuke-sama? Are you all right?" she was at his side in an instant, "You look distressed! Oh dear!"

She covered her mouth with her hand in shock when Sasuke's rice ball actually fell.

"Ah! I'll pick it up for you!"

A hand suddenly clasped around her wrist, and Ammy turned to him instantly.

Sasuke's face was emotionless as he asked, "?"

She was acting like a servant! She was acting like the perfect… Geisha.

What bothered Sasuke was, however, how much he liked it.

"What's wrong, Sasuke-sama?" she asked as she sat next to him: her posture was erect, her knees were closed together, and she was so close!

Her hand reached up to touch his cheek, making Sasuke feel… breathless.

She leaned closer to him, "Perhaps I can make you feel better, Sasuke-sama?"

Sasuke could only stare at her too blue eyes (which were too close to his) and notice the smug triumph she hid underneath them. She was mocking him!

Damn her!

But all Sasuke could do was notice her face that was merely inches away from his. He stared intently at her visage from her nose, to her lips…

Ammy who was fully anticipating Sasuke to simply do that stupid smirk thing of his and admit that she really was an awesome Geisha in a manner that would also make her feel insulted.

She did not, however, expect him to kiss her.

Her eyes widened, and she vanished and appeared at the opposite wall from him like she was electrified.

"Wh- WHY DID YOU DO THAT!"

He spun around and saw her pointing at him. Her eyes were widened, and she was tense.

'What…'

"WHY **WOULD** YOU DO THAT? I THOUGHT YOU WERE GAY!"

-Twitch, Twitch- Smirk, "Do you want me to prove I'm not gay _again_?"

She blushed as she stared at him wide-eyed, "NO! THAT WAS MY FIRST KISS, BASTARD!" She looked like a volcano about to erupt.

"Hn. Leave, or I'll grab you and take your second."

That did it.

"BASTARD!"

Amaterasu ran out of the room and smashed the door.

'..Happened?'

Uchiha Sasuke turned his head to look at the unfinished lunch Ammy left behind.

Well, at least he was able to confirm that her lunch really was quite good.

**End of Chapter 1**

* * *

**A.N Much better, Don't you think? Longer too! Well Review if you liked it, review if you didn't, hell, review if you read it! ...**

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**Free cookies if you do...**

**And what is with Sasuke and being kissed?**

**So Review!**


	2. Chapter 2: Memories of a Geisha

**Chapter 2: Memories of a Geisha**

Sasuke stared at the door with a strange look on his face. With a shrug, he looked out of the window and reflected on the event that had just taken place a few moments ago. He pressed his fingers to his lips, he just couldn't forget how soft, how _good,_ how_ right _they felt on his own. He was torn. He'd only be hurt if he had his own precious person. _'Damned brother…' _He shook his head to clear out his thoughts. He looked back outside of the window. 'Peaceful…' Oh how the world just loved to prove him wrong.

Seconds later, Naruto jumped through the window and attacked him. Sasuke, who was taken off guard, was punched in the face by a grinning Naruto. Soon enough he had Naruto tied up on the ground, and smirked. "Weakling." He turned around to a sudden ambush of seven Narutos and ended up as the person he thought he tied up moments ago. Naruto escaped through the window victoriously henged as Sasuke, in pursuit of Sakura's first kiss.

_**Meanwhile**_

Sakura had finished eating and was wondering about Sasuke. 'Where was he? I really wanted to eat lunch with him, too, since we're gonna be teammates for a while.' She began to daydream. "Yo, Sakura. Wow, your forehead is so big and cute. It's like it was made for kissing." she squeaked and giggled in her childish fantasy, wishing for it to come true. 'Too bad it's just a daydream. What am I thinking? That this is a fairytale? Jeez.' She looked up and saw who she thought was Sasuke. 'Oh my god, it's Sasuke! And he's looking at me so intensely!'

"Yo, Sakura. Wow, your forehead is so big and cute. It's like it was made for kissing." He said.

She blushed. Inner Sakura was like "HELL YES! LOVE PREVAILS!"

"Just kidding. That's something that Naruto would say."

"-Droop-"

He sat down next to her. "So what do you think about Naruto?"

"He's annoying. He gets in my way and doesn't understand my feelings." She had an ominous aura and glint in her eyes as 'Sasuke' gulped.

"I hope you understand…".

She puckered her lips. They leaned close, lips nearly touching as- *GROWL*

'Sasuke' seemed to panic as he ran to the restroom clutching his butt and stomach. Sakura opened her eyes thinking along the deluded lines of 'He's so shy. I'll just wait for him to come back.'

After Naruto's "break" he left and ran into… the real Sasuke.

**Time Skip! (A.N. I'm too lazy to add more to that…not to mention how painful that part was to write…)**

"What's taking that damn teacher so long?"

Three hours. It had been a whole three whole hours since Iruka made his speech. Who, in their right mind, would be three hours late to a meeting?

"Does that guy have no respect for us at all?"

The four genin were sitting in the classroom, waiting for their sensei. Naruto was busy pacing around, Sasuke was sitting at a desk and Sakura was leaning against it. Ammy had jumped out the window and balanced herself on one arm, upside down on a sparring log that she had previously ruined. Naruto decided he had waited long enough and grabbed a blackboard eraser and was busy rigging the door.

"What are you doing Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Our sensei is the only one who is late! This is payback for making us wait!" Naruto said, living up to his title of being Konoha's loudest ninja in addition to being its number one prankster.

Sakura sighed, "Our sensei is a jōnin, and he isn't going to fall for a simple trap like that." Inner Sakura punched her fist forward and yelled giddily, **"Shānnarō! I love these kinds of things!" **

Sasuke just didn't give a damn about Naruto's antics. Never has and never will. He figured Naruto would end up returning to the academy once his uselessness was exposed; same with Sakura.

Ammy looked back at the commotion, swung her legs, and gracefully flipped herself off the log and re-entered the class through the window. "Hey! Don't leave me out of this!" Ammy chirped as she pulled out a few spools of ninja wire.

"Now what are you doing?" Sakura scowled.

"I'm gonna make sure that idiot sensei get what he deserves. Hey Naruto! Write on this sign for me."

"What do I write?"

"Anything you want," she grinned. She started pulling out the wires into a near invisible trap that would leave the poor guy hanging upside down if he wasn't careful. Sakura gave her a pointed glare. "Wait, if you're a geisha, why do you act so…non-geishaly?"

Ammy turned her head to the pinkette and scoffed at her, rolling her eyes, "What?" she asked, "Do you really want me to act like that? Okay then, Sakura-_san_."

She turned away and then spun back around. There was a sudden change in her posture, Sakura noticed. Ammy turned and smiled prettily at her and asked, "Do you need any assistance, Sakura-sama?"

Sasuke repressed a shudder and a snort at how Ammy was acting, "You act like one of the _girls_, baka."

Beside him, Sakura was trying her best not to gag, "Th- That was…" –shudder-…

"Please don't do that again." Naruto added, visibly shaken.

"Hmph! You're the one who was complaining you a..! Wait a sec… Give me the sign now please..." Ammy stopped, mid tirade, and walked to the trap as she turned her attention towards the door. Naruto glanced at her. She nodded to him and he ran to his seat, frantically trying to suppress his giggles of anticipation. Sakura looked at her funnily, while Sasuke merely spared her a glance.

Ammy, however, paid them no mind. She hung uo the sign in it's designated spot. Her face scrunched up in concentration as she leaned on the wall next to the door, her hands in her pockets, "New sensei, prepare for lift off in five…four… And she looked off towards the window on the opposite side of the room.

A noise caught the attention of the genin as someone approached the door. "Three…" A slow smile spread across their lips when the door to the classroom opened slowly, and in ambled Hatake Kakashi. "Two…" The blackboard eraser fell down and bounced off his head. 'HE FELL FOR IT? IS THIS OUR SENSEI?' Sakura and Naruto thought. Sasuke was stunned, 'he fell for the idiot's trap? Is he really a jōnin?'

The silver haired jōnin picked up the blackboard eraser, the genin noticing that his headband covered his left eye and a face mask covered the lower half of his face. 'A weirdo?' Naruto and Sakura thought in concert once more. He took another step forward… Ammy glanced over in anticipation…

"One."

Of course, Hatake Kakashi was one of the best. He had, at one point in time, served the ANBU. So, naturally, there should be no question about his skill. He had even invented his own assassination technique, the Chidori, he is the son of the late yet legendary 'White Fang' and was the Yondaime's student. In bingo books, he is known as 'Sharingan no Kakashi' and is held in high (or really, really, _really_ low) regard by shinobi all over the Elemental Nations.

Yet why, for Kami's sake, is he hanging like a puppet, aloft in the classroom, with a sign 'I am an IDYOT!' dangling beside him?

"Ahahahahahah!" –Breathe- "Hahahaahahaha!" –Hiccup, breathes- "Hahahahaha!" Naruto hooted.

Sakura was 'hyperventilating', "Sensei! I am so sorry! I tried to stop Naruto and Ammy but they-!"

"Hahahaha! Serves you –haha- right!"

"-and I was just saying that you probably got caught up in important business, but they weren't-!"

"You totally fell for it! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AH!"

"I didn't think that the strings would actually carry you that high up. I guess I was wrong." Ammy remarked surprised. '_I can't tell if he's messing with us, or being completely serious.'_

"-they just wouldn't _stop_, Sensei! And, in behalf of –glare- my teammates, I apologize for-"

**"That was so cool!"** Inner Sakura said as she was sure the jōnin and Sasuke-kun didn't see any trace of her loving Naruto's and Ammy's prank.

The jōnin looked at the genin in the room, upside down, then the eraser, also upside down. Despite Naruto's obnoxious laughter, Sakura's never-ending false apologies, and Sasuke's twitching visage, and the openly giggling Ammy, Kakashi was, from the short interaction alone, able to conclude that:

Out loud he said, "Hmmm," at this point, everyone (Naruto) had quieted down already, "My first impression of all four of you is… I hate you."

Sakura's face was the epitome of a horrified expression. Sasuke was scowling like there was no tomorrow. Naruto's scowl could rival Sasuke's. Ammy twitched and glared at the jōnin.

"Meet me on the roof."

-Poof!-

The blonde's jaw dropped as he spluttered, "B-but! How could he have escaped Ammy's trap so easily?"

"…"

Ammy turned towards her three numb teammates, "And how could he say that he hates _us_? I mean, shouldn't it be the other way _around_? He was three _hours_ late after all!"

Sakura gaped at her.

Sasuke looked at her exasperated, '_What the heck! Is this girl for real?_' As he was standing, he remarked sarcastically at her, "Maybe it's because you spelled 'IDYOT' wrong?"

She muttered some unintelligable words to herself angrily, and gave Sasuke an annoyed glance, "Yeah… that could be it, but I DIDN'T WRITE IT!"

"…"

"... Idiot."

xxxxxxx

Kakashi was a tall man with an odd taste in clothes and he has gravity-defying silver hair. Oh, sure, he wears the standard Jounin Uniform. The only problem with his get up was the fact that his... _shirt_ covers half of his face and his headband covers one of his eyes. Since the first impression of the three genin had for their teacher was already questionable, upon reaching the roof, when they saw him in a much more normal position, their regard for their teacher continued to degrade.

When the three of them were seated properly, Kakashi sort of… _smiled_ at them. And, as if nothing happened, said, "Why don't you four introduce yourselves?" Sakura cocked her head to the side slightly, "introduce ourselves? What do we say exactly?" The jōnin looked skyward, "I don't know, maybe likes, dislikes. Hobbies, your dreams for the future," he said. "You first!" Sakura countered.

The man nodded, "I'm Hatake Kakashi. My likes and dislikes...Hmm. I have lots of hobbies... my dreams are none of your business." Sakura turned to the others, "we only learned his name..." she sighed. Kakashi pointed at Naruto, "You, spiky blonde one, you go first."

Naruto thought for a second and sat up straighter, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like instant ramen, cup ramen and the ramen at Ichiraku's, especially when Iruka-sensei treats me to it. I hate the three minutes I have to wait for the water to boil for my ramen. I like tasting new flavors of ramen and giving the older ninja the run around!" Naruto had learned from Ammy to not reveal important information to people he didn't know or trust. Of course that wasn't too hard, because he never revealed anything to anyone but the Hokage, Iruka, and Ammy. Kakashi had watched him the whole time was tricked into believing Naruto, 'this kid has ramen on the brain...' Naruto smiled suddenly, "my dream is to become the Hokage and have everyone in the village acknowledge and respect me!" At this, Kakashi's thoughts changed a little, 'he had a rather unique upbringing...' He turned to Sakura next.

"I'm Haruno Sakura," she said brightly. "The thing I like- no, the person I like..." she looked at Sasuke and squealed quietly while blushing. "My dream is..." another squeal as she looked at Sasuke. 'Girls her age are more interested in love than ninjutsu,' Kakashi mused. "What about dislikes?" he asked. "I HATE Naruto," she said sternly, Naruto seemed to crumple from those words. Kakashi looked to the Uchiha.

Sasuke grunted before speaking. "I'm Uchiha Sasuke. I hate a lot of things and I don't like anything. I don't have a dream. I have an ambition: revive my clan and kill that one man..."

'As I expected,' Kakashi thought. He also noticed Naruto shiver. 'Does Naruto think Sasuke means him?' Kakashi nodded to the fourth one.

"Really? Well then, why don't you go next, angel face?"

Sasuke snorted, and Ammy scowled, "Who are you calling angel face, you scarecrow?"

Kakashi scratched his chin, "Hmm, I was under the impression that girls would find that flattering."

"Pfft. I'm no typical girl, cyclops. I am Kasai Amaterasu of the Kasai clan. I like warm sunlight, training, fire, my katana and …" she got real quiet, then shook her head and continued, "Who I hate is none of your concern. As for hobbies...I guess cooking, writing, training and kicking ass. I also like running and swimming. I dream to become the strongest kunoichi of Konoha."

'That clan…' He noticed that Naruto looked unsurprised by the information, unlike the other two.

"Well, I think all of you are interesting. So, tomorrow, we will meet on training ground 7 for our fist day together. Anyways," the jōnin said, "we will meet at Team 7's training grounds tomorrow. I'll give all of you a map when you go to leave. Make sure to bring all of your ninja tools and weapons."

Three of the four got up and were about to leave when the jōnin spoke up again, "Oh, by the way." The four looked at him again. "Don't eat anything for breakfast," he said, catching the interest of Sakura and Naruto. "Why?" Sakura asked. "Because you'll just throw it up anyways," he said in a grave tone. He vanished with a poof. The four showed shock at this, but left with a map in their hand and the simple warning in their heads. Ammy snatched her map and vaulted of the roof to the ground three stories down.

The Jōnin paused for a few moments after they left, then took out a small book and wrote the four names of his new 'students.' He scratched at his covered cheek. 'That Kasai girl seemed familiar...don't tell me…', he thought as he reached for his book. 'Now where is it…?' He rummaged through his pouch, and then remembered dropping it because of the trap. He got back to their classroom to retrieve it. He saw it lying on the ground, right in front of the window. As he bent down to pick it up he noticed something strange outside. "What the…!" there was a sparring log outside, with the pegs all cracked and of completely broken off. He went to investigate, and realized that whoever had done this had done it without the use of chakra. 'Who did this?' he asked himself as he picked up a wood chip.

xxxxxxx

**Time skip: the next morning.**

"RRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNN NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGG"

"…That's two days in a row…" she growled as she threw her dying alarm clock against the wall again. It breathed its final breath that morning, imploding on itself and all. She grumbled under her breath as she sat up from her bed. She checked the time on her non-alarm clock and saw that it was five in the morning. "Meh." She took a shower and dried her hair with a spare towel then went to her tiny cabinet groggily. She grabbed her typical clothes, exchanging her teal shirt for a black one with teal trims and a small white flame emblem on the bottom left of the top. Ammy looked in the floor length mirror and wrapped her forehead protector around her neck ignoring her damp hair. She walked to her closet door and opened it, revealing her huge stash of weapons and ninja tools. She pulled out her beloved katana. "I'm finally gonna use you again Solar Flare!" she giggled. She un-sheathed the blade and swung it in a graceful loop and sighed contentedly. She took out her tool pouch and restocked it with ninja wire, explosive tags, shuriken, kunai and summoning scrolls. She filled her kunai holster and placed it back on her right leg. Eventually, it was five forty five. She ignored Kakashi's threat and ate a breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast and green tea. She thought to herself angrily. 'What's the point of training if you don't have the energy? It's like he's trying to fail us.' At five fifty, she headed to the training ground.

**15 minutes LATER**

Sakura was the first to arrive at training ground 3, or so she thought. In the middle of the training field was none other than Ammy, lying flat on her back in the grass. Sakura noticed some changes.

A katana was lying on the ground to her right along with her sandals, leaving her feet bare to the light breeze. Her hair was down, and it framed her angelic face. She had ditched the teal, making her look more mature and resigned.

'She would probably look pretty cute if she didn't just smirk all the time and actually smiled,' Sakura thought to herself.

"Enjoying the view?"

Sakura jumped, unaware that she was awake. Ammy opened her eyes and looked over, smirking. She sat up and stretched. _'And I was right…'_ Sakura thought. She was about to head over to sit with her, but the Ammy stood up when she was within ten feet of her and scowled at her. When Ammy put on her put her sandals and katana without her noticing, she would never know. Sakura was going to apologize about the prior day when Naruto's loud voice interrupted, something about ramen.

**[Three hours later...]**

"He's late..." Naruto groaned, exhausted from not eating. Sakura's stomach was growling as well. Sasuke was off to the side, but an occasional growl could be heard from his stomach. Ammy seemed to be the only one not bothered by hunger as she meditated, floating a leaf over her head with chakra ,on one of the three wooden posts in the clearing.

'Is this how our sensei is?' Sakura thought.

Another twenty minutes passed before the silver-haired jōnin appeared. "Sorry everyone I-" he started. "YOU'RE LATE, SENSEI!" Sakura and Naruto yelled. Even Sasuke looked like he wanted to say something. Ammy opened her eyes, launched off the post, and landed on her feet behind Sakura and Naruto, then sprung forward to point at Kakashi angrily yelling. "I COULD'VE SLEPT LONGER!"

The Sasuke and Sakura stared at her. "That's it?" Naruto told them about her unbridled hatred for waking up earlier than the sun. Ammy vented out her rage for a few minutes, and then she calmed down and let Kakashi speak. She reached up to tie her hair back into its typical ponytail.

"Alright, it's time for a training exercise," Kakashi said, getting an aggravated groan from Naruto. "Sensei, we already did lots of training at the academy," Sakura said. "Well, this is a special training session," Kakashi said, "it is used to determine something...shocking." The four eyed him. "W-what is this shocking something?" Sakura asked. "Out of all the students who graduated the academy this year," Kakashi said, "only nine of them will become genin, the rest will return to the academy" All of them showed shock at the statement. "That's not fair!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke remained silent, but looked more determined than before. Sakura looked worried.

"Now, the test is simple," Kakashi said, "It is a simple survival game." Naruto and Sakura looked at him with a 'go on' look. "I have two bells with me, the point of the game is for each of you to get a bell to pass," Kakashi explained while holding up the bells in question, which he tied to his belt. "Sensei, there are only two bells and four of us," Sakura said. "Exactly, that means two of you will be returning to the academy regardless," Kakashi explained. The effect was instant; each was determined to get a bell for themselves. Only Ammy seemed to realize what was happening, but she didn't say anything, just looked at the ground, contemplating something. "Come at me with everything you have, with every tool you possess."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Naruto asked, "I mean, you couldn't even dodge a black board eraser..."

Kakashi didn't even look at Naruto. "Feel free to ignore the idiot, the dead lasts of the class always makes lots of noise. It's all they know how to do."

Rage flashed within Naruto as he rushed at Kakashi with a kunai, or at least tried to. In a flash, Kakashi appeared behind Naruto, pointing the boy's own kunai at the base of his skull. "I didn't say start yet, but at least this means you are taking this seriously," Kakashi said while eye smiling. Ammy snickered.

Sakura and Sasuke were both impressed with the speed and skill Kakashi had shown. Sasuke knew that was probably just the tip of the ice berg.

Kakashi released Naruto. "Now that we are all ready, begin!" Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura rushed for the edges of the clearing while Kakashi and Ammy flew off in different directions.

[Ten minutes later...]

Kakashi surveyed his surroundings, 'Sasuke is hidden somewhere close by. Sakura is fairly well hidden. Kasai is a small distance away, probably using her hearing to monitor me. Naruto is...' Said ninja was standing in front of Kakashi, arms crossed with a defiant look on his face. "Something is off here." Kakashi muttered. "That would be your haircut!" Naruto shouted as he pointed at Kakashi's head. Ammy choked back a snicker. "Do you even know what a ninja is?" Kakashi asked condesendingly. "It doesn't matter!" Naruto yelled as he rushed Kakashi. Kakashi reached back to his pouch, halting Naruto's rush. Both Sakura and Sasuke were waiting to see what weapon he used. To everyone's shock, he pulled out a book: Icha Icha Paradise. The silver haired jōnin looked ready to take on the world with the perverted book as his weapon.

"Wha-what are you doing?" Naruto asked as Kakashi opened the book. "What does it look like?," Kakashi asked while almost completely absorbed in the book, "I'm reading. Feel free to attack me." Naruto shook his head, "why are you reading it now? I could really hurt you," Kakashi flipped a page, "I want to know what is going to happen in this next part, and no matter what you do, you won't even touch me with your skills." Naruto got angry and charged at Kakashi. He delivered a punch, but Kakashi dodged it while still reading. Three more attacks were launched before Naruto stepped back, preparing a strategy. Kakashi suddenly vanished. "What?" Naruto asked. Kakashi reappeared behind Naruto, his hands held together with his index and middle fingers pointing upwards. 'Tiger hand seal,' Sakura thought with a massive dose of dread. Sasuke wanted to see what was going to happen 'that seal is used for fire Justus…'.

"NARUTO RUN YOU'RE GONNA DIE!" Sakura shrieked. She slapped her hand over her mouth. She just gave away her position. She had to change her location, but couldn't, being frozen in fear.

"Hidden Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu: One Thousand Years of Death!" Kakashi shouted as he drove his fingers into Naruto's butt, and then sent Naruto flying a decent distance away and into a small river.

Sasuke was ready to fall out of his tree. Ammy was a lot closer than Kakashi thought as he heard her stumble. 'That wasn't a jutsu at all,' Sakura thought blandly, 'just a really powerful ass poke.' Naruto crawled out of the river, holding his wounded butt. "What the hell?" Naruto shouted. "A ninja must form a plan before attacking his opponent. It is also fatal to allow an enemy to get behind you," Kakashi lectured, still nose deep in his book. Naruto had recovered and held his fingers in a seal resembling a cross, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he shouted as four clones appeared next to him.

Sasuke was surprised, having witnessed Naruto's pathetic clones before. 'Naruto...' Sakura thought, 'he's kinda cool.' Kakashi glanced up from his book. 'So the rumors were true, he can create true, full clones rather than the fakes an academy cadet normally uses,' he thought. "Impressive, but it won't work on me." One of the Narutos stepped up, "Why won't it work?" As if to betray him, his stomach growled. "In your current condition, you can't maintain such a high level jutsu for too long," Kakashi said. Sasuke and Sakura's stomachs growled as well, telling them they were in the same boat. Ammy was proud that she had the foresight to eat that morning.

Suddenly Ammy appeared out of nowhere and snatched the real Naruto by the ear and was gone, hidden somewhere among the trees. Kakashi was surprised at her speed as well as Sasuke and Sakura. Sakura was confused as she asked herself, '_What? All I saw was a blur… how fast is she?.'_ She nearly screamed as a kunai implanted itself in the ground in front of her. She noticed a slip of paper attached to the loop. 'Huh?' She looked towards Sasuke and noticed that he got one as well, implanted between his legs dangerously close to his crotch. She paled as she turned back to pull out the paper and read it.

_Hey, meet me over by the thicket past the clearing. There is a kunai in the trees closest to me. I have a plan, but I need help trying to pull it off. Hurry. –Ammy_

_P.S. Burn this when you're done reading it._

She looked around until she saw a glint in one of the trees behind Kakashi. _'THERE!'_ She quietly snuck over via the trees around the clearing noticing that there was a trail of thin wire leading off deeper into the forest. She got there at the same time as Sasuke. They looked in and saw an irritated Ammy covering Naruto's mouth as he struggled. Sasuke soon appeared next to her. "So you have a plan?" Sakura looked at her curiously and sat down. She let go of Naruto and a scheming glint came over her eyes.

"Yes."

xxxxxxx

Naruto had suddenly re-appeared before Kakashi and held his fingers in a seal resembling a cross, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he shouted as four clones appeared next to him. _'He's finally back…What took him so long?…Don't tell me the-'_ "How about this then?" a Naruto clone asked as he appeared behind Kakashi and grabbed him. 'What?' Kakashi thought in shock. "I made a clone and sent him upstream. I then used the shadow clone jutsu in front of you so you wouldn't notice him sneaking up on you," Naruto said. 'A distraction, from Naruto of all people?' Kakashi thought. He smiled slightly under the mask, 'this kid is full of surprises, but…' His thoughts were cut off by another genin

Sasuke jumped high and gave a roundhouse kick aimed at Kakashi's head as Sakura threw a few shuriken and kunai. Said jōnin blocked the projectiles and grabbed his ankle, rendering the attack useless. Using his fist, Sasuke once again made another attempt at Kakashi. This, however, was blocked by Kakashi's other hand.

Sasuke smirked. Naruto grinned. Sakura aimed and threw.

The kunai grazed his waist, and Kakashi's eyes widened. He glanced quickly at his waist.

The bells were gone!

Cursing, Kakashi hastily let go of Sasuke and made a beeline for the bells that were lodged in between the kunai and the tree.

Before he could reach it, there was a barely audible 'poof' and then smoke surrounded the kunai. Kakashi stared.

A cream-colored hand was what he saw first, and then he saw the tiny, silver the bells, which were held by none other than the mastermind, Kasai Amaterasu.

When the smoke finally cleared, he was staring, wide-eyed, at the black clad kunoichi who was grinning from ear to ear.

"So, what'll it be, Kakashi-sensei? Do we pass?"

It took no more than two seconds for Kakashi to cough into his fist and arrange his thoughts. From behind him, he could sense Sakura emerging from the trees.

"Well, I'm liable to pass you, Ammy, but not your teammates. They didn't get a bell, after all."

Sasuke visibly tensed.

"That's not fair, sensei!" Naruto yelled.

Sakura spoke from behind him, her voice clear and loud, "Sensei, in all the books I have read, there has been no account of a Genin Team with less than three members."

"Ah. Is that so?"

"Yes. In fact, I am also quite sure that we have passed the true purpose of the test."

Behind his mask, Kakashi smirked, 'These kids are good. They're the first to actually get it right.'

"Oh? And what might that purpose be?"

"Teamwork." Ammy said reappearing by her teammates.

For the first time since they met, Kakashi smiled a true, genuine smile at them, "Well, I'm quite happy to tell you that you are correct. Teamwork was the reason for this test."

"YES!"

"Oh YEAH!"

"Hn."

"Knew it."

"Ammy, you were awesome!" Naruto praised as he turned to the chocolate-haired genin, "I can't believe you were actually able to figure it out!"

"I know, I'm awesome, aren't I?" she smiled. Truly smiled.

Sasuke twitched.

"Oh, and let's not forget Sasuke! Sure, he could be a bastard, but he's awesome!"

"Urasutonkachi. I'm standing right here."

"Yeah, yeah! He TOTALLY caught Kakashi-sensei by surprise!" Sakura giggled.

Kakashi smiled at his excitable genin cell, "Well, it seems like there won't be anyone who'll be tied to the stump. All four of you were able to get the bells and cooperate even when circumstances make you fight amongst yourselves. You must not forget that only through teamwork can you do a given mission flawlessly."

"Ammy."

Ammy looked at her sensei with seriousness in her blue eyes.

"I was quite surprised that you were able to figure this test out. Your quick thinking may just save the life of your comrades one day."

"Sakura and Sasuke. You were able to trust Ammy's note completely and go to her without doubting her authenticity. Sasuke, that is what teamwork is all about: trust. Individual capabilities won't get you far. In the world of shinobi, missions will always be handed out in teams, and the ability to fully cooperate with a fellow leaf-nin is what every shinobi should be able to do. Individual play that disrupts the team can put comrades in danger. I'm glad that all of you were able to get that."

He motioned towards a large, black stone with a white flag raised on top of it that was hidden behind some bushes, "Do you see that stone over there?" He ambled lazily towards it, "on this stone are the names of heroes."

Naruto perked up, "Heroes? Then I want to be on that stone too!"

Ammy grinned at Naruto and said "Well it depends on what kind of hero's are on that stone, doesn't it?"

"Oh yeah? Then what kind are they?"

"They are heroes who died while on duty." Kakashi said somberly.

Naruto's large grin vanished. He stared remorsefully at the ground. Sasuke was looking at the stone uncomfortably while Sakura was gazing at their sensei pitiably.

"My best friend's name is carved here. With the teamwork that you showed me, you can prevent any other names from appearing here."

Kakashi turned around to face them, "Always remember this: Those who break the rules of the ninja world are scum... Yes that's true. However...those who abandon their friends...are worse than scum."

Suddenly, he smiled, "I'm telling you this because you don't get it. You think you get it, which is not the same as actually getting it. Get it?"

Naruto face faulted, _'Argh. And for a minute there, I thought he was kinda cool.'_

"Well, that about raps it up! Congratulations, Team 7, you pass!"

All three of his students smiled.

"Well, it seems like these lunches won't be put to use, since you passes before the bell rang. Oh well. You'll have to get your own lunch. Ja-ne." And with that, Kakashi Hatake vanished in a puff of smoke.

Naruto gaped at the spot where her sensei had just disappeared from, "WHAT! After all the damned waiting, the bastard doesn't even give us a decent meal?" Mumbling curses under her breath, Naruto turned to her other teammates, "Hey, how about you three, I bet you're hungry."

Sakura was still too euphoric to hear him. She was dancing happily in her own little world, marveling at the fact that she was able to pass. With Sasuke-_kun_ nonetheless! She sighed wistfully to himself, staring at nothing. Sakura sat down carefully at the ground, hungry and exhausted, but completely happy.

"Oi, Sakura, you all right?"

"Hm..?"

"Er... yeah. You just... keep on smiling there," Naruto said awkwardly, "That's kinda cute."

"SHUT UP"

Ammy sighed and lightly touched her katana, regretfully whispering "I didn't get to use you after all." Ammy stood up and walked next to Naruto.

As Naruto turned to his other teammate and glared at him_, 'A bastard is a bastard. But this one is my teammate. What would Ammy tell me to do?...Smile, Naruto, smile!'_

"What about you, Sasuke? Are you hungry?"

"Hn," he had picked up his bag and was starting to walk away from them.

"Oh no, you don't! We're eating ramen! Let's go Ammy!"

"…Only if you carry me."

"WHAT?"

"Yep, you heard me. Carry me to Ichiracku's!" Ammy smiled, her lips curved into a catty smile.

"Wh-why?"

"…I helped you guys pass the exams"

"Bu-… FINE" Naruto huffed.

"Yay! Free ride!" Ammy laughed, as she leapt onto his back.

With that declaration, Naruto promptly dragged and well carried his two teammates away from the training grounds with Sasuke ambling along behind them, laughing and marching towards the sanctuary: Ichiraku ramen.

xxxxxxx

"Hokage-sama, Hatake Kakashi wishes to see you."

"Send him in."

The door closed and opened with a soft 'click'.

"Hokage-sama. Team 7 passed."

"Oh? That's good to hear. Please, do elaborate. I am quite interested in how they managed to pass your test."

"They were able to figure it out."

"My, my, isn't that a pleasant surprise?"

"Ammy figured it out, and cooked up a plan. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were the distractions."

"I see."

"During the interaction, I was able to deduce these three: Sasuke is well-rounded, the epitome of a shinobi, while Sakura is exceptional at aim and accuracy. Naruto is also the most unpredictable in the group, I suppose."

"And Ammy?"

"Well, there are a lot of things I don't know about her yet... but she is more than average when handling ninja wire."

"Really, now? That's no surprise. Sakuya-san is quite creative when it comes to teaching geisha about the samisen. She probably drilled little Ammy about all the uses of strings during her geisha training."

"Yes, but ninja wires are hardly practical."

"I agree. However, with Ammy's creativity, there is no knowing what she will be able to do."

"Yes, Hokage-sama, Ammy is quite a... unique thinker."

Chuckle, "Well, I'm quite glad that they passed. Is there anything else you wish to add?"

"Ammy... she..."

"Yes?"

"She has exceptional chakra control."

"..."

"She was able to henge into a kunai."

"... I see. Well, there's no telling what she might be able to do in the future."

"And, Hokage-sama?"

"Yes?"

"It seems that Sasuke and Naruto are not the only ones whom I should look out for. Sakura is proving to be a genius in her own right."

"Haruno Sakura?"

"Yes. She was able to aim a kunai and cut thin thread from a distance of 50 yards."

"Then, judging from your report, I have great expectations from Team 7."

xxxxxxx

He didn't really know why, but for some odd and inexplicable reason, Uchiha Sasuke had acted the way he did today.

Said person frowned as he walked away from his yelling teammate, his backpack nestled securely on his rear as the straps wrapped themselves around his shoulders.

"Oi! Sasuke!"

He didn't slow or turn around to acknowledge him, he just kept walking further and further away. Mentally, Sasuke scowled as he heard Uzumaki Naruto nearing him with Ammy clinging onto his back.

"Oy, teme! Lets go eat ramen!"

"I'm going too," Ammy shrugged.

"Hn."

"We'll take that as a yes. Oi! Naruto!" she smiled at Naruto, "Come on! He's already agreed!"

Sasuke heard the heavier footsteps of his other teammate as he ran to catch up with them. Sasuke's inner scowl deepened. Him again?

What was so good about him, anyway? Sasuke thought as he stubbornly kept his eyes on the road. Behind him, Naruto was chattering animatedly with Ammy teammate calling Sakura to join in. He just didn't get how Ammy could actually befriend someone like him.

Earlier, although he hated to admit it, the sight of Naruto and Ammy talking –who was all happy and loud with her- made him feel… odd. Odd as in, there was this heavy feeling in his chest, and he kept envisioning Naruto sliced up into chunks and sold to a cannibal.

That can't be good.

Uzumaki Naruto could fail for all Sasuke Uchiha cared. He didn't give a damn.

But then he felt the usuratonkachi moving towards the baka, and his body moved on his own. It wouldn't do to leave the two idiots alone; they could very well cause moronic mayhem.

And that can't be good.

So he followed the usuratonkachi, deciding to listen to what their third teammate had to say. With every sentence, every pause and every word the dobe had said, Sasuke had wanted to tell him to shut up.

There was also this tiny, insignificant voice in his head that was saying that Naruto's didn't deserve Ammy's attention, or her smiles that lit up her face.

But, in the end, everything turned out well. The dobe was actually right, and the four of them had passed with flying colors.

Pity Kakashi's bell test had only been a fluke, though. If it wasn't, then… Most likely, Naruto and Sakura would have flunked.

And Sasuke would be alone with…

He sent the brunette a glance.

He suddenly bolted out of his thoughts, as if struck by a proverbial lightning. He blinked.

Now, that… That can't be good at ALL.

Sasuke's mental scowl had turned downright ugly at the last thought. 'Don't think about it. Don't think about it,' he chanted.

…

He sent a lethal glance at his other teammate. This time, he really did scowl.

It was an embarrassment. Naruto was an embarrassment.

Pathetic.

"-have to try it! Right, Sakura?"

"Ye-yeah…"

Scowl

"Naruto!" the aged ramen chef greeted, "It's been a while."

The male genin laughed and rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah. Sorry about last time… I had to chase Iruka-sensei, since he left me with such a lame excuse.

"Oh?" Ayame said as she noticed Naruto's teammates, "And who might those be, Naruto?"

"These are Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke. You guys already know Ammy," he said as he motioned towards his teammates, "They're my new teammates, and we're Team 7, at your service!"

Teuchi and Ayame laughed as Naruto put Ammy down and sat on one of the stools with Sasuke and Ammy moving to sit beside him. Sakura sat to Sasuke's right. He looked at them both as he said, "This place is the best Ramen restaurant in all of Konoha!"

"Definitely" Ammy laughed.

"Ramen, usuratonkachi?"

"What's wrong with ramen? I think it's great! Oh, I'll have miso today, old man!"

Sakura spoke up from beside her crush, "I'll have pork."

Ammy let out a chuckle. "Miso, please!"

Sasuke grunted, "Miso."

"Anyway, you'll just have to taste it for yourself! I bet you haven't even been in this side of town, have you, Sasuke?" Naruto smirked at the Uchiha. Sasuke scoffed at her, "Stop making preconceptions about me, usuratonkachi. You don't know me."

Ammy glared at him, "Nobody does, broody!"

Sasuke mentally noted how she had made a point there. Nobody ever really knew the real Uchiha Sasuke; he had closed himself up after the massacre, and nobody seemed to care about him at all. Everyone just assumed things about him and never really bothered to get to know him.

He'd never admit it, but it disturbed him a bit.

Ayame smirked at Ammy, who was previously Naruto's back, as she put the orders down and asked Naruto, "Oh, so are you and Ammy finally here for a date?" The two fell out of their seats as they both jumped up in sync blushing furiously and screaming, "NO WE'RE NOT!"

Sasuke's heart sank for some reason as he looked to them in …shock. He never thought of that…

He was dragged out of his turbulent emotions when Teuchi placed a bowl of ramen in front of them. Naruto shouted an exuberant 'Itadakimasu!' before digging in with gusto. Sakura let out a girly squeal of hunger excitement and let out a happy 'Itadakimasu' and had also started eating, as did Sasuke, even if in a much more relaxed manner. Ammy murmured and dug in eating at almost the same pace as Naruto.

"Ammy -san," Sakura started after a few minutes of silence, "I noticed how you managed to transform yourself into a kunai earlier… How'd you do that?"

Sasuke's ears perked up.

Naruto stopped eating and abruptly snapped his head at Ammy as she paused eating, "I dunno. Can't you do that? We were taught the henge in class after all…"

It was Sasuke who answered her, "No," he said with a gleam in his eye, "We can't henge into something like that. A kunai is too small… It would require exceptional chakra control to transform into something smaller than you by more than ten times."

_'Textbook answer,'_ Naruto thought.

"Oh," she answered, "I didn't know that."

"Hn. You're pretty good at chakra control, baka," Sasuke admitted begrudgingly, "How'd you train yourself?"

Sakura blushed in jealousy thinking '_NOOOOOO! He has fallen to the dark side!'_

"Hey! I'm not useless! Anyway," Ammy, by now, had finished her ramen, "Sakuya-sensei. She's was my geisha instructor, she taught me chakra control."

"How?" Sakura asked.

"Well… you're not gonna believe this, but… she taught me chakra control with the shamisen."

"Isn't that a geisha instrument?"

"Yeah, it is. Sakuya-sensei used the strings to teach me chakra control."

"How?"

Ammy winced, "They're not… very happy memories." She twitched, "Yeah. They were sucky memories. Well, since you're my teammates now, I guess you deserve an explanation. But, before I go into my chakra control training, you should know how geisha operate. You sure you're up to it?"

Sakura and Naruto nodded and Sasuke sent her a leveled stare. Ammy smiled, "Great! Well, you better order another bowl of ramen while you're at it; 'cause this is gonna take a while."

The brunette geisha grabbed a clear glass from the counter as her teammates watched her in barely concealed curiosity. Ammy placed her empty bowl of ramen aside as she put the cup for her teammates to see on the table. Ammy poured a bit of water into the cup and a bit of oil afterwards. All three watched as the water sunk to the bottom of the cup and a distinct line appeared between the water and the oil.

"Oil and water don't mix," Ammy said. She pointed to the line in the middle, "You see this line here? This line symbolizes the barrier between the shinobi arts and the geisha arts. Both arts are so different that they are considered as oil and water."

"Pfft." Sakura scoffed.

"Anyway," she continued, "You remember the shinobi codes, right? Well, the codes of geisha are practically the exact opposite! Take shinobi code 25, for example. Code 25 roughly states that all shinobi are to hide their emotions, it's just like saying that emotions are weaknesses! Psh. The codes of Geisha say that emotions are the most powerful tool."

Sasuke frowned, "They really do clash. Why would you enter such an art if it's so different from your aim?"

Ammy glared at him, "I don't know, okay. I can't even remember why anymore, just that Hokage-sama put me up to it."

Naruto was frowning for a different reason. His puzzled blue eyes clouded as he asked thoughtfully, "Why would geisha think that emotions are a powerful tool?"

"Well," Ammy said rather hesitatingly, "Geisha… They… Geisha are really different from shinobi. They don't kill, or get dirty. Their whole life, real geisha are treated as princesses, and their greatest goal is to become beautiful." Her expression changed to utter disgust at this, "I still don't get it, so don't ask me about that."

Ammy drank from her cup of water before continuing, "Geisha are performers, high class entertainers, but… here in Konoha, girls are trained to become geisha for a different reason."

"And that is..?"

"Spying," Ammy said matter-of-factly. Sakura looked back in surprise at this. She flushed in shame for the insults she threw at Ammy the day before. "Geisha consider emotions the greatest tool because they use emotion to get information they need. That's why we're entertainers, because the only thing we really do is act. We pretend we're head over heels for the immoral git when all we really want is information on how to kill him easier."

Sakura winced at her harsh tone, "That's… that's really… um…"

"So," Naruto started, "You're like a Delilah with her Samson."

"I guess it's kinda like that," Ammy said begrudgingly.

Sakura grew nervous with the tense atmosphere. Glancing at her three teammates, she decided it was best to change the subject, "A-Anyway! When did you enroll in the geisha classes, Ammy-san? I thought it was open to, well, to third years only? And… um… when did she teach you these things?"

The blue-eyed brunette made a face at that, "It is, so Sakuya-sensei goes to my house during weekends, and that's why for the first year, I had to learn flower arranging and tea ceremony. Oh! And I can't possibly forget about grace and posture lessons!" Ammy grumbled under her breath, "I still have nightmares about that."

She made a motion with her hands; "The first year of geisha lessons downright sucked!" she shuddered, "To make it worse, I had to endure Sakuya-sensei's cooking lessons…"

"What's so bad about that, baka?" Sasuke asked as he remembered the well-cooked bento she made a few days prior.

Ammy froze and turned to him with a somewhat murderous expression, "You. Don't. Know. Sakuya-sensei."

"I mean," she said as she cupped her hands to her face with a horrified expression, "Sakuya -sensei and teaching shouldn't even be in the same sentence! She's… she knows torture…"

"Are you okay, Ammy-san?"

Ammy shook her head furiously, "Anyway," she continued, "2nd Year was even worse that 1st year. That's when Sakuya-sensei started laying it thick on me: how to make a conversation, how to dance, how to put on a kimono, makeup! Then acting! That was probably the hardest lesson out of all the lessons in 2nd year!" Her face grew more disgusted with every lesson she mentioned.

"It's a good thing that in 3rd year, things got a little more kick-ass since Sakuya-sensei started teaching me the shamisen. Well, there was a lot of pain…" She winced, "Yeah, there was definitely a lot of pain, but eventually sensei taught me chakra control with the shamisen strings."

'Strings?' Sasuke thought. "How did you train with strings, baka?"

Ammy puffed with pride, "Don't try it at home, 'cause it's really, really, super hard! So you take a string, something hard like the ones in a shamisen and try to make a hole in the middle, straight through it, with chakra, so that the only thing left after that would be its surface, and there's a tiny, almost invisible hole in the middle of it!"

Her teammates could only stare at her, taken aback.

"That's impossible," Sakura said incredulously, Naruto nodded with an "Uhh huh." his voice barely above a whisper.

"It's that hard, eh?" Ammy smirked, "Well, I always knew I was great!"

Sasuke twitched in annoyance.

A new voice from behind them had joined the conversation, "So that's why you're good with strings."

The three genin turned around to see Kakashi Hatake standing behind them - his hands were in his pants and his posture was as lax as ever. Naruto yelled at him, "Kakashi-sensei! Don't sneak up on us like that!" Ammy sighed.

The silver-haired jōnin merely smiled, "Sorry. That was my bad. Well, I'm glad to see that the three of you are bonding already."

"Hn. I was forced here."

Naruto stuck a tongue out at him, "Whatever, you emo-git!"

"Maa, maa," Kakashi said as he waved his hand, "I'm glad I found you here. We have our first team meeting tomorrow at 8. Don't be late, now." With those parting words, Kakashi vanished in a puff of smoke.

Hypocrite.

"All right!" Naruto said excitedly as he pumped a fist in the air, "I can't wait to get our first mission! I wonder what it'll be! Ne, ne, Sasuke-teme! What do you think our mission will be?"

Sasuke merely grunted, Naruto felt insulted, and Sakura could only sigh in jealousy, "And then what happened?" she prodded.

"Oh, right! Sakuya-sensei taught me how to use the strings more," Ammy smiled softly at this, "At first I thought strings were kind of wussy, but Sakuya-sensei beat that out of me."

"What happened in 4th year?"

Ammy 's smile diminished, "She taught me how to spy. She practically forced me to act mute for a whole month."

Sasuke smirked at the memory, "I remember that. The class was an octave silent."

Naruto glared at him for her, but didn't say anything. Sakura waited for her to continue, but she didn't. The pink-haired girl frowned, "And then? What happened, Ammy -san?"

Her face was unreadable as she said, "And then Sakuya-sensei left and… died."

"What?"

"Sakuya -sensei died. She was called on a mission."

"I," Sakura started, clearly uncomfortable as she stared at Naruto's empty ramen bowl, "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," she said irritably, "It was her choice to leave, anyway. She was gone for about three months, and then she just… died." Naruto patted her head gently and wrapped an arm over her shoulders.

Sasuke laced his hands together and placed his elbows on top of the table.

Naruto smiled sadly at Ammy, "When I first met Sakuya-san, she was in this beautiful white kimono with a golden obi and a deep red dragon on the kimono's skirt. She was really pale, almost as if she hadn't gone out in the sun for years… She had this, shocking red hair… and she had the prettiest eyes I've ever seen…and she was beating the crap out of Ammy!"

She chuckled, "I didn't know she was, like, really scary back then…" Ammy fiddled with the black cloth of her headband, "I never told her that I really admired her, either… she acted scary for the most part, but she couldn't stop fussing over me, either…" She snickered, "Like a mother hen."

Sakura smiled, "It's good that you're not so sad now that she's gone."

"Yup!" The girl stood from her seat and straightened her headband, "Well, I better get going. See you tomorrow at 10!"

Sakura turned to say something to Sasuke, "Hey, um-"

Blink.

The Uchiha was gone. Sakura twitched before turning to Naruto. He was still eating. She left as silently as possible.

Naruto finished his seventh bowl of ramen and begun to leave.

"Just wait one second," Teuchi said from behind him. Naruto turned slowly, sensing the murderous aura, "Yes?"

"No one's paid for the bill yet."

He looked at the bill. And nearly fainted.

**End Chapter 2**

**Well hello beautiful people of the internet, I am back, and alot faster than usual. Thank you to my reviewers: **

**ddcj1990**

**Sayonara Yasashii Akumu**

and

**You're Back!**

**for reviewing, I love you all! Again polls are set for pairings and to my readers, review review review! **

**Thank for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3: Should We Be Worried?

**Chapter 3: Should We Be Worried About this Mission?**

"White Flame here. Back up trap is set and ready to spring. Over," Ammy reported.

"This is Raven. I'm ready. Over." Sasuke sent in.

"Blossom reporting. I'm in position. Over." Sakura whispered.

...

"I'm all set for this. Over." Naruto said.

"Naruto... You're slow and you forgot your codename again! Over!" Kakashi hissed through his microphone.

Sakura was stationed in some bushes, ready to slip out at a moment's notice. Sasuke was in a tree and waiting to swoop down on their unsuspecting prey. Due to this place becoming a bottleneck if their target escaped, Ammy had set up a 'sling shot' wire trap that would throw the target back when they hit it. Naruto was hiding in the shadows of a tree and bushes. Kakashi was in a tree with a perfect view of the area, allowing him to see how his team performed on this mission.

A rustling in the brush caught everyone's attention and they fell silent. A figure slid into the area, looking around furtively. When in the dead center of the clearing, the genin moved in. Naruto caught their prey.

"NYAAA!" the cat shrieked as it clawed at the air. Naruto stumbled over, allowing the cat to get access to his face, which it tried to reduce to mince meat. "OW!" Naruto gasped as the cat jumped out of his hands and tried to run away.

Sasuke dropped in front of the cat and caught it effortlessly, keeping it away from his body. The dark haired boy glanced at Naruto, smirked and turned away.

Kakashi walked out of the brush. "Is that our target? Can you confirm it?"

Sasuke put the cat in the jōnin's arms. "The ribbon is there, so it is Tora." It was a good thing he handed the cat over to Kakashi because Sakura started praising him on his capture.

Ammy walked into the clearing, allowing the small shackle's simple mechanism retract the last of the wire that was stored inside it. When it was finished, she placed the somewhat hidden tool in a pocket for later use.

"Let's return Tora so we can get another mission," Kakashi said as he started towards the tower, his team following behind him.

* * *

[Hokage's office...]

The poor cat was seemingly begging for their help as the fire daimyo's wife tried to squeeze it to death. Team 7 now knew why retrieving the cat was the most frequently posted mission in Konoha. It was a small wonder it was still alive. Cat must know ninjutsu or something.  
Once the room was clear of civilians, Naruto shouted, "Give us a real mission!" The rest of team 7 moved a small distance away to preserve their hearing, but Sasuke mentally agreed with him.

"Naruto," Ammy sighed and whapped him over the head, "D-rank missions are standard fair for us genin."

Naruto looked confused, "What's with the 'D-rank' thing?"

Kakashi took over the explanation, "Missions are divided into ranks. D is for new genin, C is for experienced genin or chūnin, B is for chūnin, A-rank is for jōnin or higher ranking ninja, S-rank are for the Kage and ANBU forces. You guys aren't skilled enough for anything other than D rank missions."

Naruto frowned, "but we're strong, Kakashi-sensei. We can handle a harder mission."

Sakura then added, "Let's at least hope that sensei is on time to help us if we ever get in trouble."

Ammy nodded and said "Some of us aren't as terrible as we look." Naruto shot her a glare.

"What? I didn't direct it towards you anyway." They continued jabbering and she was getting tired. _'hmmm… how do I shut him up?'_ Currently she had the key words: Sakura, ramen and date. How to combine them though...

Before either could continue, an older man wearing a black sleeveless shirt with a towel around his neck walked, well, more like stumbled in. "Ah, Tazuna," the Hokage said.

"Have you found anyone yet?" Tazuna asked. The Hokage shook his head.  
Kakashi thought for a moment, then asked, "Found anyone for what?"

The Hokage was about to say something when Tazuna spoke first, "I need some ninja to escort me to the land of Waves."

The Hokage thought hard for a moment, then turned to team 7. "You wanted a more challenging mission, you got it. Team 7 will escort Tazuna to the land of Waves and guard him until he finishes construction of his bridge." the Hokage said, "you will leave at 3pm today. Meet at the front gate. Dismissed."

Team 7 and Tazuna left the room, but Ammy stayed with the Hokage. "I don't think we're ready Hokage-sama," Ammy warned, her tone completely different from before. It was icy and even. A tone he knew well.

"Don't worry Ammy-chan. You and your team will be fine," the Kokage smiled gently. "Don't worry."  
Ammy turned away and put a hand to her neck, "I'm n-not w- ...ah, if you say so Hokage-sama. I don't know about that Tazuna guy though." The small ninja walked out of the room.

The Hokage sighed as he adjusted his Hokage hat, _'and I thought Naruto and Sasuke were the troublesome ones in team 7... I'm starting to sound like a Nara.'_

* * *

[Noon at the village gates...]

"Naruto! Calm down!" Sakura scolded. Naruto was beaming while looking out the village gates and practically bouncing.

"But I've never been outside the village before!" Naruto exclaimed. Sasuke sighed.

"Hey, hey! What's it like outside Ammy?" Naruto asked.

"Do I look like encyclopedia to you?" Ammy looked beyond Konoha's gates as well with a frown then looked back at Naruto with a smile,"Besides, everyone sees the world differently. The way I see it may be very different from how you might see it."

Kakashi placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder, making the boy jump almost two feet into the air. "It's time to go," he said as Tazuna joined the group.

* * *

[Day 2]

Sakura started talking with their client to pass the time. "Tazuna-san. Why do you have to be escorted to the land of Waves?" she asked.

"I'm a super bridge builder and some people will not like what I am doing, so I need some super protection." the older man said. Inner Sakura popped up, 'not another one!'

Naruto got excited, "super protection? That is what I am. Uzumaki Naruto, future super Hokage, then everyone will acknowledge and respect me!" Tazuna started laughing, hard.

"You, a Hokage," he managed, "kid, even if you became the greatest Hokage ever, I would never care." Naruto was about to start yelling when Tazuna spoke again, "it is always the small, stupid ones who make up for a lack of talent with a massive mouth." Naruto started looking around, "who is the small, stupid one?" His teammates looked at him. It took Naruto a few moments to realize he had to tilt his head back slightly to look at any of his fellow genin's eyes, Ammy was excluded since she hadn't spoken yet.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Naruto yelled as he struggled to escape Kakashi's hold on his jacket's collar.

"What is the point of killing the person you are supposed to protect?" Kakashi asked. Ammy put her arms behind her head and suppressed a giggle, earning a few glances from the others.

Naruto finally calmed down, but was still fuming somewhat as they continued on down the path. They walked past a puddle, only Kakashi and Ammy noticed it. They walked by it without disturbing the painfully obvious ninjutsu. Ammy tensed, and pretended to scratch her leg, grabbing a kunai in the process.

Two men wearing a heavy, clawed gauntlet on opposing arms and what appeared to be gas masks on their faces rose out of the puddle, their gauntlets linked with a razor chain. The one with the gauntlet on his right hand's first action was to backhand Ammy in the side of her face with his claw. With Ammy down, the same man swung his arm, allowing his partner to jump to the other side of Kakashi. In mid air, his partner swung the chain so it was looped around Kakashi. Just when the genin realized what was going on, the assassins pulled their arms and tore Kakashi apart with the chain as the one with the single horned headband said, "One down." Sakura screamed at the sight.

When the pieces of Kakashi hit the floor, Naruto was flanked by the two ninjas. "Two down," two horn said. Before they could cut Naruto down, Sasuke halted their claws with his legs, then punched the two assassins away from Naruto. The Uchiha then threw a shuriken and kunai to jam the chain up on a tree. The two ninja disconnected the chain and one bolted for Sakura and Tazuna while the other returned to attacking Naruto. A few moments before striking their target, an arm was wrapped around his neck, stopping him.

The other one, who was attacking Naruto, was struck in the spot over his heart by Ammy's flaming fist after she reappeared, forcing fire into his system. He fell to the ground, convulsing as his muscles tried to make sense of the burning, painful messages her fiery chakra told them. "Hakuen o sōsa," Ammy muttered as she pulled her arm back, white flames disapitating.

Sakura looked to where her 'dismembered' sensei was; only to see sliced up wood. 'He used a kawarimi to trick them,' she thought. She thought that maybe Ammy had done so as well, but two shallow cuts on her cheek proved otherwise. The girl looked at the attacking ninja's headband, then searched their uniforms quickly finding some kind of liquid in a vial and dripped some into the cuts, producing some pale smoke and a hissing noise. She wiped it and the blood away and the cuts were gone. _'What is that stuff?_' Sakura thought, not knowing of any medicine with such rapid healing properties.

"Sorry about that Naruto," Kakashi said to the slightly quivering form of said ninja.

Naruto looked at Sasuke, shocked at his teammate's actions. _'He acted like this wasn't his first battle. He was able to move while I shook on the ground like some kind of idiot,_ 'Naruto thought. He went through the memories of his personal training and wondered if he had wasted all that time.

To throw some salt on the injury, the 'great' Uchiha spoke. "What's wrong dead last? Fear get to you, scaredy cat?" Sasuke questioned with a cold smirk. Naruto's anger battled his sense of inferiority.

"Naruto," Ammy said, catching the blonde's attention, "those blades were poisoned." Naruto blinked at the kunoichi, who pointed at Naruto's left hand. Naruto looked and saw a small wound on the back of his hand.

"Hmmm," Kakashi hummed while tying up the two ninja, "we are going to have to go back to get your hand treated."

"Good work Naruto," Sakura sighed, "our first real mission and we have to give it up now because you froze up."

Sasuke didn't say anything, merely smirked at the shorter boy. Ammy glared at the two genin, her clenched fists tightening.

_'Why is it always me?'_ Naruto thought angrily, _'no matter how hard I try, I keep screwing up!_' He angrily looked at the wound, then made his decision. He opened up his pouch, drew one of his kunai and stabbed it into the wound on the back of his hand, draining it of poisoned blood.

His teammates, sensei and client all gaped at his actions. Ammy smiled wearily and thought _'Idiot's gonna kill himself.'_

There and then, Naruto made a vow to never freeze up again, he vowed it on the pain in his hand.  
"Uh, Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"What?" Naruto growled angrily.

"It's good and all that you purged the poison," Kakashi said, "but now you might just bleed to death."

Naruto started freaking out and yanked the knife free from his hand. Kakashi managed to grab his arm and stopped the small boy from pumping too much blood out of the wound. He pulled out some bandages and started to wrap the wound. 'Hmm?' he thought as he watched the wound start sealing itself, 'that must be the Kyūbi's power at work.'

"Uh, Sensei," Naruto said, seriously worried, "is something wrong?"

"Huh? Oh no, just wondering if we can get moving right away with your wound," Kakashi lied, covering his surprise at Naruto's healing rate. He finished bandaging the genin's hand.

Once Naruto's hand was bandaged up, the group continued on. Ammy had gone somewhere, but soon caught up. She approached Naruto as the group continued on and tugged at his sleeve.

"Naruto..."

"What is it?" he asked. The small girl held up a vial of a greenish liquid for him. "What...is that?"

"Antidote for the poison used by most Kiri-nin..." the girl smirked.

Naruto's jaw dropped. Other than that vow, what he had done was useless. Then again, Ammy might not have had-

"I have some too" Kakashi said as he pulled out a vial of the same liquid.  
-some of the antidote for the poison...

Naruto wondered if that was standard with all Jōnin vests or was it their preparation for missions.

...Did the vests come in orange? His thoughts were interrupted by a voice.

"How did you know we were there?" one of the demon brothers asked.

"Simple, it is sunny today and hasn't rained in a while," Kakashi said, "a puddle stands out quite a bit." He hit both ninja, knocking them out. "Now Tazuna-san, care to explain why ninja are hunting you? I thought this was a D rank mission..."

Tazuna audibly gulped.

* * *

[A few days later...]

The four genin, their sensei, client and a boat driver were on a small boat going into Wave. Kakashi and Tazuna had spoken a while back and he told them the truth about who was after him. Gato, a man who ran a massive shipping company, was trying to kill Tazuna because the bridge he was building threatened Gato's plans. The bridge would remove the country's reliance on Gato's shipping, effectively kicking him out of the land of Waves. Kakashi stated that the mission was at least a high B-rank mission, possibly higher if the foes were even stronger.

Using a motor boat, that was being rowed by the owner, they passed through a tunnel and came into a more open area, trees lining the river. This path was best since it gave them more cover from anyone that Gato may have on watch. Naruto got excited at seeing the place, it was all fairly new to him. The boat driver dropped them off and left quickly, leaving the ninja and their employer behind.

"Hurry and get me home safely," Tazuna commanded lightly.

"Yes," Kakashi sighed. 'Next time we get attacked it won't be chūnin, but a jōnin like me,' Kakashi thought with a dull look on his face.

Naruto glared at Sasuke briefly and then started acting weirder than usual, if that was possible. He started looking around a lot, and then randomly threw a shuriken into the bushes with a shout of,

"There!"

Nothing happened.

"Just a rat," Naruto said as he wiped away imaginary sweat.

"Stop trying to act cool!" Sakura yelled.

Ammy glanced at Sakura, "Interesting that you immediately think he's trying to act cool, Sakura-san."

Sakura blushed a bit. "He-"

"Naruto, stop using shuriken like that...it's dangerous," Kakashi warned, cutting Sakura off.

"Hey, midget! Stop acting like a moron!" Tazuna yelled.

The words fell on deaf ears as Naruto went back to scanning for foes.

Kakashi felt something while Ammy heard a noise. Naruto, whether by instinct or dumb luck, flung a kunai (he DID listen...sort of) with a spirited "there!" again, right where the jōnin and Ammy had thought the disturbance was.

"We said stop!" Sakura yelled as she punched Naruto in the back of his head.

"Somebody is after us!" Naruto protested.

"Yeah right," Sakura snapped, "the men with nets aren't here for you yet, baka!"

Ammy stared hard at Sakura and said sweetly, "Sakura, please don't hit Naruto's head," with a hint of acid on her tone. Her voice returned to its regular cheerfulness. "He's stupid enough as it is!"

"Hey!"

Kakashi and Sakura, who had just finished yelling at Naruto, went over to see what was there. A small white rabbit was shaking against the tree, Naruto's kunai embedded in the tree between its parted ears. Poor thing looked like it lost a few months of its life to fear.

Sakura went back to lecturing Naruto while he tried to calm the poor rabbit down by apologizing to it and petting it. Ammy scooped it up gently and petted its head quietly to reassure it as well. It was counterproductive since Sakura was scaring it further with her tirade. Kakashi was thinking though.

_'This is a snow rabbit...but it's pure white. They change color in spring because of increased sunlight, but this one didn't,_' the jōnin thought, _'someone must have kept it in a cage for kawarimi. Then that means the next attack is here. Now.'_

* * *

In the trees, Zabuza watched Kakashi and Ammy, not shocked too much at their presence. He had expected as much from what Haku had told him. _'It doesn't matter, Sharingan Kakashi is the only real threat,_' Zabuza thought as he initiated his attack.

* * *

Kakashi heard it a few moments after Ammy did; the sound of a branch creaking from a jump and the whistling as a blade sailed through the air. "Get down!" Kakashi yelled as the large sword flew at them. Sasuke pulled Tazuna down and out of the way while Sakura tackled Naruto to the ground. Kakashi ducked under it while Ammy rolled out of the way, drawing her sword in mid roll. The large blade imbedded itself in a tree. The blade hadn't even settled and a man appeared upon it.

The Konoha ninja stood up and faced against the ninja who had just appeared. Naruto was thinking of showing up Sasuke and was ready this time.

"If it isn't the Hidden Mist's missing-nin, Momochi Zabuza," Kakashi said. Naruto moved to spring forward, but Kakashi's hand halted him. "Get back. This guy is on a whole different level from the other two," Kakashi said. He put his hand on his tilted forehead protector. "It will be dangerous if I don't use this," Kakashi said as he moved his forehead protector, exposing his hidden eye.

The man standing on the sword had short hair and bandages wrapped around the lower part of his face. He wore pants, no shirt and arm warmers. He glared down at the Konoha ninja and his target. "You are Sharingan Kakashi," Zabuza said, "sorry, but the old man is mine."

"Surround Tazuna and protect him," Kakashi ordered, "don't attempt to enter the fight. That is your mission." He then pulled up the forehead protector up, "Zabuza..fight me," he stated like a command. His left eye was revealed, being red with what appeared to be a ring of hardened color with three tomoe on it. A scar went up under his forehead protector and down under his mask.

"I already get to see the infamous Sharingan," Zabuza said, "I'm honored."

"What is a Sharingan?" Naruto asked.

"It's a dōjutsu, an ability present in one's eyes. It allows you to read and defeat any taijutsu or genjutsu. That isn't the only power it has though..." Sasuke explained. Ammy tensed.

"That's right," Zabuza said, "the scariest thing is that it lets you steal your opponent's jutsu once you've seen them." He then looked up briefly, "when I was still a part of Kiri's ANBU, My bingo book held information on various famous ninja around the world, you included," he said as he looked at Ammy, then turned his gaze to Kakashi, "the man who had copied a thousand jutsu, Copy Ninja Kakashi."

Sakura was thinking of how so many great people had been springing up in front of her lately. Naruto was more vocal with his thoughts. _'What's going on?'_ Sasuke thought, _'only a few members of the Uchiha clan have the Sharingan...could he be one too? Aren't me and my brother the last of them though?'_

"Enough talk. I have to kill that old man," Zabuza said as he and the large sword vanished. He reappeared on the water, standing on it. "It seems I have to kill you first though, Kakashi," he said. He held one hand up and one before his face, both held in a half ram seal.

_'He is using a high level jutsu,'_ Kakashi thought. Three of his students were marveling at how the swordsman stood on the water. "Kirigakure no Jutsu," Zabuza said as a thick mist enveloped the area.

"He'll come after me first. He is an expert on silent killing. You won't notice till you're already dead... I can't use the Sharingan perfectly so be on guard," Kakashi warned.

The mist thickened and Zabuza's voice seemed to come from everywhere. "Eight targets...liver, lungs, spine, clavicle vein, jugular, brain, kidneys, and heart...Which one should I go after?'

Nothing seemed to happen. Kakashi suddenly held up a hand in half ram, briefly startling the others. Sasuke started panicking. _'It feels like I'll be killed if I move! This would drive anyone insane. Jōnin fighting jōnin...it feels like my heart is being crushed. I'd rather die than have to feel this,'_ he thought as he shook with fear. He started turning his kunai onto himself.

"Sasuke...Don't worry," Kakashi said, "I will protect you guys even if it kills me. I won't let my comrades die again." He turned around for the last part and everyone swore that he was smiling happily.

"Hey, Sasuke." Naruto whispered. Sasuke looked over at him. "Keep an eye out for someone in the trees."

"Why?" Sakura asked. The blond shifted from one foot to the other, his eyes straining to see anything or anyone hiding in the bushes around them. Ammy glanced at him, trying to pick out the sounds in her background with her keen ears.

"'Cause I doubt that guy came here alone."

* * *

Kakashi and Zabuza dueled with water jutsu, the latter being overwhelmed by the former's abilities with the Sharingan_. 'Is he... reading my mind or just very good at copying every move I make? Haku, you'd better be getting this.'_ Two powerful water techniques collided with each other, sending water everywhere. They had moved out on the surface of the lake.

Scowling, Zabuza started to make the hand seals for a water clone, only to see Kakashi copying him. Instead of one, he made two. Kakashi destroyed Zabuza first clone by ramming a kunai in its head. The mizu bunshin, only a 1/4 as strong as Zabuza and not even an 1/8 as fast, was helpless but to take the brutal hit. Zabuza attacked Kakashi, only to have the jōnin dissolve into water. A kunai appeared at his neck. Kakashi held Zabuza in a vulnerable position.

"Sensei! Behind you!" Naruto yelled as he pointed at the ambush and threw a kunai. He missed…

Someone poked Kakashi's shoulder. He turned only to see another Zabuza.

'_This is definitely not my best day...'_

Zabuza laughed. "It's over. You don't get it. Your monkey level imitations could never defeat me. You made your clone say that line to attract my attenti-.

That was when Ammy appeared in front of Zabuza, katana giving of white, red, orange and teal swirls of flame. "Taiyō furea o sōsa!" She smirked. She swung and slashed through a layer of his face bandages, flames almost completely burning the rest away. _'She's fast!'_ he thought in shock. Ammy landed and swung a chakra infused kick to his head and a powered fist to his gut. Both were intercepted. Growling in frustration, she retreated to the mist and waited for the right opportunity to attack, concealing her chakra and soundlessly sheathing her katana.

A slightly shaken Zabuza warily turned his attention back to Kakashi paying even closer attention to his surroundings. Zabuza resumed his earlier speech albeit with a lot less gusto.

"You don't get it. Your monkey level imitations could never defeat me. You made your clone say that line to attract my attention. You then stayed in the mist and waited for the right opportunity to attack. Nice plan, but..." Another Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi, "I'm not that easy," he said as the clone Kakashi had caught broke apart.

Zabuza swung his sword and missed Kakashi when he ducked. Zabuza used his sword's weight and slammed it into the ground, delivering a fast kick with the momentum, sending Kakashi flying away. He went to pursue his enemy, but stopped at Ammy's flung kunai, which Zabuza easily caught and threw away figuring out her location, as Kakashi sailed into the water. "Useless," Zabuza spat as Kakashi fell into the water.

Kakashi pulled himself up and noticed that the water was incredibly heavy. He realized a moment too late that Zabuza appeared behind him and performed some seals. "Suirō no Jutsu," Zabuza said as the water rose up and formed an orb around Kakashi. Zabuza put one hand into the orb. "You tried to escape into the water, big mistake. Now you are trapped in my inescapable prison."

Zabuza then made a simple hand seal, "Now we can finish things later, Kakashi. First, the brats...Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu." A Zabuza was formed from the water in front of him and it walked onto the land. "You think that wearing those forehead protectors make you a ninja? A real ninja is someone who has survived many glimpses of death's doors. When you're good enough to be listed in my book, only then can call yourself a true ninja. You are just playing ninja," he said as he vanished. Naruto was shocked at the sudden disappearance, but nearly got kicked back a moment later, his headband loosening from the impact of a rough shove. He looked up to see a green sweater and realized that Ammy had taken the attack for him.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled as Naruto rolled up to them and bunshin Zabuza stomped on the fallen headband. Ammy's face was twisted into a grimace as she was thrown back.

"Just brats," the real Zabuza mumbled.

"Take Tazuna and run! You can't beat him as long as I am in this prison!" Kakashi yelled, "water clones can't travel too far from the real body! Just run away!"

Naruto started to panic as Sasuke had earlier, but getting up to run caused pain to shoot through his still injured hand. It reminded him of everything, his vow, Iruka, everything that had led up to this. Naruto rushed the Zabuza clone. Ammy looked on with a panicked glint in her eyes. _'I knew this was gonna end badly…'_

"DON'T!" Kakashi yelled.

"Naruto! What are you thinking?" Sakura yelled.

Naruto was knocked back again, this time skidding almost all the way back to his teammates, his loosened headband falling off. "What were you hoping to do by attack him alone!" Sakura yelled, "We are genin, we don't stand a chance against him!"

Naruto started to get up and they noticed the headband in his hand. He stood up. "Hey you eye brow less freak...Put this in your handbook; the man who will become Hokage, Leaf ninja Uzumaki Naruto!" he announced as he tied his headband back on. "Hey Sasuke, Ammy!"

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"I've got a plan," Naruto said.

_'A plan from you?'_ Sasuke thought, then said, "You and teamwork?'

'_Why is Naruto so cool all of a sudden?_' Sakura thought with a slight blush, _'though he still isn't as cool as Sasuke-kun.'_

"Let's do this!" Naruto said, wiping the blood from his mouth.

"Nothing but arrogance," bunshin Zabuza said, "do you think you stand a chance?"

"Why aren't you running away?" Kakashi yelled, "our duty is to protect Tazuna! This fight was lost when I was captured! Now run away!"

Naruto and the others looked back at the old man. "Well...I am responsible for all this and I don't think I have the right to tell you to stop to keep me alive," the old man smiled, "fight to your heart's content."

"I'll protect Tazuna," Sakura said as she got up and stepped before the older man and drew three kunai for each hand.

"But you fighting alone is-" Ammy started. "Hmmm…Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," Ammy smiled as she produced five clones, all armed the same way as Sakura. "Nevermind. Guess you aren't alone, huh?" they asked as one.

"Guess we don't have to worry about our client," Sasuke said.

"You ready?" Naruto challenged.

Bunshin Zabuza started laughing. "You idiots are never going to grow up and stop playing ninja, are you?"

"What?" Naruto yelled.

"When I was your age I had already had so much blood on my hands," bushin Zabuza said. This startled the genin and their client.

"Zabuza, the devil of the Mist," Kakashi said. Both Zabuza smiled knowingly, "you know of the old 'graduation exam' for the Hidden Mist Village?"

Ammy crinkled her nose.

"What exam?" Naruto asked.

"A fight to the death between students," bunshin Zabuza said, "friends, siblings and allies are sent into an arena are made to fight till one loses their life."

"Disgusting," Sakura whispered.

"I heard the exam had to change years ago...Why was that?" Ammy asked.

"Change? What happened ten years ago?" Sakura asked.

"A devil appeared and..." Kakashi stopped.

"What did the 'devil' do?" Sakura asked again, disgusted by the ritual.

"Without the slightest shred of humanity, a boy yet to enter the academy killed over a hundred trained students on his own," Kakashi said grimly.

"That was the most fun I ever had," Zabuza said with a strange smile on his face and a demented look in his eyes. Naruto and Sasuke flinched from the look. Sasuke realized a moment too late that bunshin Zabuza was in front of him. He was knocked back with an elbow blow, then he was slammed into the ground by the bunshin's fist. Sasuke instantly spat up blood from the harsh blow. Ammy winced and ran off into the trees.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled. She threw a kunai into the bunshin's forehead. It returned into water.

"Thanks Sakura" A new water clone appeared before the team.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto yelled as he produced at least twenty clones and each drew a kunai. "Shadow clones...and lots of them," bunshin Zabuza mused.

"Here we come!" Naruto announced as all the bunshin jumped at bunshin Zabuza and forced him away from Sasuke, then piled on top of him, kunai pointed towards the water clone. Bunshin Zabuza had grabbed his sword, then he swung his blade around, cutting the clones down and knocking the real Naruto away.

_'Useless,'_ Tazuna thought, _'you kids can't beat him.'_

Naruto dug into his bag and pulled out a large weapon, a shuriken. "Sasuke!" Naruto yelled as he tossed the weapon when he slid by Sasuke.

Sasuke caught the shuriken and his eyes widened in realization. _'That's your plan! You never told me dobe...good plan though.' _Sasuke rolled away to gain some distance from bunshin Zabuza. He stood up and opened the massive shuriken. "Fūma shuriken," Sasuke said, and then he jumped up.

"Even a giant shuriken won't work on me," bunshin Zabuza said as he got ready to deflect the shuriken with his sword. Sasuke threw the shuriken. Bunshin Zabuza was surprised when the shuriken flew by him harmlessly. 'Did fear mind take his mind?' he thought, then realized the boy's aim. "So you are aiming for the real me..." the real Zabuza said, "too bad it isn't enough!" He caught the shuriken. He noticed moment later that another was there in the 'shadow' of the first one, aiming for his legs. "A second shuriken!"

'That is Kage Shuriken no Jutsu...' Kakashi thought, stunned at the plan Naruto had come up with.

"Still not enough," Zabuza said as he jumped over the second one. Sasuke smirked.

The shuriken burst into smoke and revealed Naruto, kunai in hand. Everyone, except Sasuke, expressed different levels of shock.

Naruto threw his kunai at Zabuza's head. It drew closer and closer. At the last second, Zabuza pulled his arm free of the water prison and moved away to avoid the flying blade. He glared at Naruto, a small cut under his eye. Everyone realized what was about to happen as Zabuza spun the Fūma Shuriken. 'Damn brat!' Zabuza mentally roared. Before he could throw the weapon, it was halted by the metal plate on the back of Kakashi's glove.

"Great plan Naruto," Kakashi said, "you guys have grown..."

"My shadow clones weren't meant to defeat Zabuza, just to hide that I had transformed into the shuriken," Naruto explained, "I figured I could break the prison."

"I got distracted and released the water prison," Zabuza said.

"You didn't release it because of distraction," Kakashi corrected, "you were forced to release it because you were in danger." Zabuza's anger flared up. "I don't fall to the same jutsu twice," Kakashi warned.

Both jōnin jumped away from each other. When they landed, each started performing seals at an astonishing speed, both finishing at the same moment.

'That many seals in seconds...and he copied it perfectly!' Sasuke thought in awe.

In the middle of the water war, the two jōnin were weapon locked. Zabuza was finding it strange. He shoved his opponent back and ran to circle him. Upon stopping and preparing to perform another jutsu, he found Kakashi had as well, both in the same pose.

Zabuza started nervously thinking, 'my movements...he's-'

"-Copying them perfectly," Kakashi finished as he mirrored Zabuza's movements.

_'He read my mind?'_ Zabuza thought in shock, then got angry at Kakashi's Sharingan and started flashing through seals, '_That-'_

"-Fucking eye is pissing me off," Kakashi finished as he mirrored Zabuza movements down to his expression.

"All you're doing is copying me-" Zabuza snapped.

"You can't beat me, you albino monkey!" both shouted. Naruto suppressed a fit of giggles. They weren't manly…

Thrown further into shock and anger, now becoming slightly paranoid, Zabuza performed new seals, intending to use a different jutsu. "I'll make it so that mouth never opens again!" he declared. He then noticed something. _'Is that me?'_ he thought as he saw what appeared to be an image of himself behind Kakashi, _'this has to be a genjutsu!'_ He made the mistake of letting the shock stop his hands.

"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jut-," Kakashi stopped.

Kakashi fell, clutching his chest in pain. _'M-my chakra levels… h-how did they get so low?'_ Kakashi was losing hope fast as Zabuza closed in on him. '_Th-this is the end… the kids better ru-'_

Suddenly, a barrage of kunai flew from Zabuza's left. _'What?_' the jōnin both thought. Zabuza sweat dropped. '_Jeez. She may be fast, but her aim sucks.'_

Ammy suddenly appeared on the water in front of Zabuza. Her fingers twitched. "Don't worry sensei, I got this."

_Chakra strings. An art of Geisha: Learning the Shamisen Exercise._

She threw more shuriken at him as the jōnin jumped, twisting and turning in the air. He grunted as Ammy kept throwing shuriken.

Throw, jump, twist, land. The process kept repeating itself, Zabuza didn't notice the pattern…Yet.

Ammy's fingers twitched.

Ammy instantly moved towards him, a look of intense concentration on her face as she round housed him. Zabuza laughed and kicked her in the gut. There was a grunt of pain as Ammy roughly met with the ground.

Her fingers twitched.

A tired Kakashi yelled at her in panic, "Ammy, leave, this is our fight!"

"No," she declared defiantly.

Zabuza instantly appeared in front of her, kicking her roughly in the back as she once again fell into the water, "You're too _weak_!"

He was stronger than her, but it wouldn't matter…

"SHUT UP!" she yelled, "I'm NOT- ARGH!"

Ammy shakily stood up painfully. Her fingers twitched.

Zabuza laughed once again…

And she smirked triumphantly from her crouched position.

"Did you know that I play the shamisen?" Ammy said as she slowly stood up.

"What does that have to do with our fight?"

"It's quite… interesting, really. Have you seen one, a shamisen?"

"What do you take me for, an idiot?"

"So you've seen it, then. It's a three-stringed instrument that is usually required of Geisha to be able to play. _Perfectly_."

"Ha! Have you-?"

"Shut up!" She yelled, and, with a pull of invisible strings, Zabuza couldn't move.

Kakashi watched this all in shock and pride as Zabuza cussed and yelled… but couldn't lift a single _finger_, "Ammy," he whispered in awe, "How did you..?"

"Heh! I'm awesome, right! The bastard didn't even notice that those shuriken and kunai I threw him had chakra wires attached to them! He thought they were just to wear him off so that you'd or Sasuke and Naruto would kick his ass from behind or something! We'd planned this out so well huh guys?"

Ammy pulled the strings harder as Zabuza choked. "Oh, and don't expect to escape, cause chakra wires are unbreakable." '_until I stop running chakra through them…'_

"It's over," Kakashi said as he prepared another kunai.

"Can you see the future now?" Zabuza asked.

"Yeah," Kakashi said as he got ready to throw his weapon, "you're about to die."

Before any could react, a pair of senbon lanced into Zabuza's neck, killing him.

A masked ninja chuckled from the trees, "you're right, he died."

Naruto pulled himself out of the lake, angry at seeing Zabuza's corpse and the boy who had killed him with such ease. Kakashi moved to the corpse and checked for a pulse, not finding one.

"Thank you ever so much," the boy said as he bowed respectfully, "I have been waiting for the perfect moment to kill Momochi Zabuza for a while now."

"That mask, you're a hunter-nin from the Hidden Mist," Kakashi said.

"You are correct," the hunter-nin said.

"Hunter-nin?" Naruto asked. '_I was right, there was someone else… Why didn't he show up until now?'_

"Yes. It is our duty to hunt missing-nin and kill them," the hunter-nin said.

Naruto was getting angrier and angrier about the whole situation. "Who the hell are you?" he suddenly yelled.

"He isn't an enemy Naruto," Kakashi assured the hyperactive ninja.

"I ain't asking about that!" Naruto yelled, "He, a kid, killed Zabuza, that really strong guy, as if it was nothing! He isn't much different from us, but he makes us look stupid! And why did he have to wait so long If he could take him down so easily?"

"I know how you feel," Kakashi said as he ruffled Naruto's hair, "there are kids in this world who are stronger or more talented than me, but not much older than you." He briefly cast a look towards Ammy. "One is closer to you than you would think..." he muttered so quietly that nobody heard him.

"Hey… Something is off…You didn't hit the vital points in his neck..," Ammy gasped in realization. She suddenly pulled the wires tighter and growled at the hunter-nin. "What are you trying to pull?" Zabuza's face begun to turn blue.

Kakashi realized his mistake and readied in a battle stance. Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura followed their examples. The nin was silent. In the blink of an eye, the nin kicked Ammy, sending her flying into the surrounding forest. Ammy gasped. "MOTHER F-" She was knocked unconscious, the wires falling from her hands. Her clones poofed out of existence.

The hunter-nin vanished in a swirl of leaves and appeared next to Zabuza. The boy took and cut the now brittle wires holding Zabuza and hefted the 'corpse' on his shoulder and fled. "The battle is over," the boy said, "farewell." With that last word, he and Zabuza's corpse vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Team 7 and Tazuna stared in shock. Naruto madly dashed to where Ammy landed, Sasuke close on his heels. Sakura and Tazuna were there next, followed by a weary Kakashi. They found her crumpled form at the base of a tree with a bit of blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.

'_Ammy…You saved us…How strong are you?_' was the collective thought.

With a tired smile, Kakashi walked to Ammy's side. When he caught up to Naruto, he slung an arm over the blonde's shoulders. "So…" he said, addressing them all. "How do you think your first experience with a real ninja went?"

"Like shit." Naruto said flatly. Sasuke had to agree. They all made it to solid ground, the Uchiha pausing just long enough to scoop up his sandals. Tazuna grinned at them.

"That was excellent!" the old man said excitedly. The ninjas merely huffed. It wasn't for entertainment, they had fought for their lives.

"Zabuza was just gathering information." Kakashi told his team warily. "That wasn't even a real fight."

"Hell, I knew that." Sakura muttered, picking up her sack from where she had left it.

"Hey, hey!" Tazuna said, trying to raise their spirits. "I happen to recognize this lake! We're ten minutes away from my humble adobe! This is Dead Man's Lake." He leaned forward with a grin. "It's infested with alligators."

Sasuke and Sakura immediately looked back. An alligator was on the surface of the lake, sunning itself, proving Tazuna's words to be right.

"Damn." Sasuke muttered.

"I guess luck… is just one of our team's many skills" Naruto said humorously.

Kakashi bent down, checking Ammy's pulse.

"She's fine. Just used a little too much chakra." Kakashi yawned, then fell faint on the ground. Sakura's eye twitched as she observed the unconscious forms of her team-mate and teacher, secretly envious.

"Oh, hell no.." she muttered, unaware that Sasuke had heard her.

"Oh, hell yes." Sasuke corrected, grabbing one of Kakashi's arms and hauling him up. "You take Ammy. Naruto help me with Kakashi."

"And I'll lead you to my home! Plenty of futons! Follow me!" Tazuna said cheerfully. Sighing, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke dragged Ammy and Kakashi after them, Tazuna's loud voice the only thing that they could focus on. It had been one hellva day.

* * *

**Ammy's Jutsu list… so far:**

**Hakuen o sōsa = Manipulation of the white flame**

**Taiyō furea o sōsa = Manipulation of the Solar Flare**

**Hey, hey guys I'm back! I hope you readers from The New Girl like the changes, and I hope you readers who read this love the scene. I tried to tone Ammy down, but… I don't know…. Tell me if it was okay guys =3. By the way…. where are my reviews? I know how many visitors I have so far. Why didja not review? Don't you love me? Am I not pretty enough? T-T Why? Well hey. There's a new chappy for you guys … and I'd better get some more reviews… Ah...I sound so needy...**

**Oh and thanks to the ones that did...:**

_**Sayonara Yasashii Akumu**_

_**summerhazel**_

_**Akashi Ookami**_

_**Guest**_

_**Ciaofox**_

**Ah, I love you guys! And yeah. Reveiws are my motivation! Tee Hee.**

***~OkamiAmaterasu2015 signing off~***


	4. Chapter 4: Patrols?

**Chapter 4: Patrols?**

**Hello guys…and girls, welcome to the oncoming two to three chapters of fillers, Muahahahahahha! No it's not for torture purposes; it's for the sake of having character development. Yes, the one thing that I have neglected… character development… So yeah. Enjoy! And there is a little Valentine's gift for you lovely readers…at the end of this chapter in the form of an Omake! So you guys, and enjoy! And yes there is a new poll up for wave arc, Go vote! **

_'Somebody, shoot me.'_ was Sasuke's stray thought when Tazuna began his lecture on the people of Wave Country and their habits. What had been a ten minute walk seemed to stretch out for a lifetime. The man just wouldn't stop talking! This was part of the reason why he loathed his fan club so much. The girls (and a few guys, he was surprised to admit) talked endlessly, as if they would stumble upon a topic that he'd find interesting, thus drawing his attention to them for a few seconds longer than another fan member.

It was sickening. Mostly because they could be so cutthroat to one another.

He glanced to his left, where Sakura was silently carrying Ammy. Now, she wasn't too bad. After the novelty of having the 'Great Uchiha' on her team wore off, she treated him less and less like a godlike creature and more like an actual person. Sure, Sasuke had seen trace amounts of what he had overheard Kiba name 'the fan girl disease', especially around that blond girl that liked to cling on him. Whatever her name was.

And Ammy, she treated him as a normal person since the day they'd met. She understood him, and didn't annoy him. Well…unless she was mad. He suddenly realized. He cared for her. A lot. A lot more than his pride and common sense would allow. Seeing her in pain angered him. Problem was she didn't share the same sentiments. She treated him as a friend, sure, but otherwise she only seemed to care for him as she would a book. A long boring one. By Charles Dickens. He glared over at his blonde teammate. But Naruto, she worried and fretted over. It was always _'Naruto don't do this.'_ or _'Naruto be careful.'_ or '_Naruto, stop being stupid and let me help.' _It infuriated him, why wasn't it him that she worried ov-

"Oy, teme. Stop glaring at me already, jeez. You would think I killed a puppy or something with that look you've been giving me, dattebayo."

"Hn. Dobe."

Naruto rolled his eyes.

Sasuke turned his attention back forward. Sakura had seen him looking earlier, and instead of a blush like he'd expect from one of his fan girls, she said more practically, "Do you want to switch? Ammy's pretty light despite all the chocolate she pigs out on." Sasuke arched his eyebrow in an unmistakable questioning look. She nodded toward Kakashi. "His arm's dragging."

Sasuke looked down. Huh, so it was. He declined her offer. "Kind of impossible for him not to." he said in defense. "He's twice as tall as I am." She nodded, knowing it was the truth. "And three times taller than Naruto." Sakura giggled.

"What's with the short insults? I swear by the log if I hear another one today, someone is going to get pummeled," Naruto growled.

Tazuna never noticed their private conversation, too caught up in his lecture. "..Living in poverty and squalor has changed some decent men into absolute animals. The need for food, for shelter, for money has taken up their entire lives, leaving no room for little things we know as morals." Sasuke and Sakura were only half listening. Naruto wasn't listening at all, too bored. And maybe a bit worried for his best friend's sake.

"So, as a result, many gangs and groups of a similar nature thrive in our humble countryside... such as the Black Dragons, the Water Beasts, The OFH, which was supposed to be an acronym for their code- Obey, Fight, Honor. Got some old samurai guy as a leader, so that's where the honor was supposed to come in, but they became known to us common folks as the Ogres From Hell. Catchy isn't it?"

Before they could make an attempt to pretend that they were listening, Tazuna called out happily, "We're here!" Past a bend in the trees and there was a village. Suddenly acting like he was ten years younger, Tazuna bounded the rest of the way to his house, waving cheerfully to the other people as he passed. Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke lagged behind.

"Father!" a woman cried out. Tazuna grinned and ran up to her, scooping her up in a hug. The conscious members of Team Seven stopped. Sakura elbowed Sasuke as best as she could while carrying Ammy. She and Naruto shared a grin.

"Now doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?" Sasuke rolled his eyes, but had to smile.

They were ushered in, Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami fussing over them all, Kakashi and Ammy especially.

Tazuna ambled out of the room to go find a futon for Ammy, at his daughter's order, while Sasuke and Naruto put Kakashi on the one that they had managed to scrounge up. Kakashi flinched, a sure sign that he was in pain, and then fell into a deeper sleep. Naruto rushed to Sakura's side as soon as Kakashi was on the futon.

Sakura shifted from foot to foot, still hadn't put Ammy down. After what the girl had went through, she thought it would be cruel to just drop her on the ground and retreat. But her arms were really starting to ache.

The door slid back open, Tazuna bounding in with a futon rolled underneath his arm. He quickly set it down and gestured for her to release Ammy.

She had taken only one step towards him when a voice ran out, freezing her knees. "What's the point? She's just going to die." Sakura turned around while Sasuke slowly stood, both keeping careful eyes on the boy standing in the doorway. Naruto looked at the incomer glaring daggers at the offender. He was small, had the dark hair and pretty features that resembled Tsunami, meaning they must have somehow been related. Dark and empty eyes stared back at them from underneath a white and blue hat. Had the boy smiled, Sakura would have found him adorable. Yet the corners of his mouth stayed pointing downward, giving her the chills instead.

"Inari!" Tazuna scolded. A small flame erupted in Inari's eyes.

"You're all going to die!" the boy shouted, making the mistake of looking at his grandfather and leaving his back wide open to Sakura and Naruto and any advances they might have decided to take. Inari found himself flat on his face when someone bopped him on the head. Hard.

The duo hadn't made a move.

"Stupid… bratty... bitchy… brat.." Ammy mumbled sleepily, fist still raised. She allowed a foxy smile to appear on her face.

"Sakura-san..." she cooed, realizing who was carrying her."You smell good." She promptly dropped her on her rear. Naruto looked on rubbing the back of his head. Ammy rubbed her bruised bottom in mock pain. "Sakura-saaannnnnn...You're so mean," she whined.

Tsunami grabbed her attention with the skill of a single parent, ushering her into the futon. She never noticed her son's sullen exit, too worried about all of the dried blood on Ammy's shirt. Ammy, in turn, distracted her with the skill of a fox, making her fuss over Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, and Kakashi instead. They were quite a pair.

Sasuke thought, to himself in the deepest part of his mind where he allowed himself to be weak, that it was nice to have such a motherly character around. Such a person had been gone from his life for so long. He waved off her hands after she bandaged his cheek.

"I'm fine," the boy said gruffly. She patted his head and went to go change Kakashi's cold compress. Sasuke turned accusing eyes toward Ammy, only to find the crafty kunoichi was already asleep. A small sigh escaped his lips, hinting at his annoyance. The brat was never up when Sasuke needed to vent.

He walked outside, only slightly mindful of the fact that the remainders of team 7 were following him. Sasuke was exhausted, yet was too alert to allow himself to fall asleep like Ammy did. He had been, for lack of better terms, through an emotional roller coaster, not to mention was suffering from the after effects of his adrenaline boost. As well as a curious drop in his chakra levels. Hm. He'd have to ask Kakashi about that when the jōnin was awake.

* * *

The next morning, Sakura was gently prodded awake. She looked into dark eyes blearily. The owner of those eyes quirked a smile at the expression on her face.

"Ten minutes. Meeting. Outside." Sasuke said simply. Sakura nodded, still not awake yet. The Uchiha walked out of the room, about to go wake Tazuna for his impromptu meeting.

She ran a brush through her hair, tripped over Naruto's backpack in search for her shoes, and barely managed to get out of the room because the sheets on her futon started to cling to her legs in a desperate attempt to make her go back to sleep.

_'Slave driver.'_ The harsher version of her hissed. A girl needs her beauty sleep! Sakura absently nodded at Inner Sakura's words. She went through the kitchen, grabbed a couple of rice balls, then went outside with four minutes to spare.

Sasuke was already there, burning a trail into the ground with his endless pacing. Naruto was finishing off his last rice ball. Sasuke looked up.

"Finally." he said, a bit of annoyance trickling in. Sakura scowled.

"Hey! I'll have you know that six minutes is a record time for a girl to get ready!" she snapped. When Sasuke looked mildly surprised by her outburst, she clamped a hand over her mouth. '_Gah! I just yelled at Sasuke-kun!'_

"Sorry." her apology was muffled by her hand. "I'm not a morning person." Sasuke smirked in that way of his, making Sakura feel like she had not annoyed or angered him, rather, she had amused him. Sasuke was a strange guy.

"I noticed." he said. Tazuna came out then, a cup of coffee in one hand, a large rolled up piece of paper in the other. He smiled, having pulled himself out of the morning haze five cups of coffee ago. He took another sip of the coffee, and then crouched down, unrolling the paper. Sasuke kneeled down to look at it. After a moment of hesitation, Sakura joined him.

"Here's the map you asked for." the bridge builder said, looking at Sasuke. "S'not a topography map, but it'll do, right?" Sasuke nodded, then turned his gaze to Sakura and Naruto.

"Both Kakashi and Ammy are.. well.. not of the best health right now and need rest. We-" he gestured to them and Tazuna, "are the only ones that can actually do something. Since Kakashi isn't here, I elect myself as temporary leader. Does anyone object? Well, except for Naruto." Sakura and Tazuna shook their heads mutely. Naruto's eye twitched.

"Grrrr… Still better than a short joke, I guess…," Naruto growled to himself.

"Why are you so quiet, well quieter than usual, today?" Sakura asked. Naruto shrugged.

Sasuke nodded slightly to himself, getting up on his feet.

Tazuna felt ridiculous. Here he was, twice the height and size of the boy in front of him, sitting cross legged like some kindergartner. But in these kids' hands, was his survival. So for the time being, he kept his mouth shut and drank his coffee.

"Tazuna has done all he can," Sasuke said, gesturing toward the map Sakura was looking over, "but now it's our turn. What's the first thing a ninja must do when he's in unfamiliar territory?"

"Ninja rule 34: When in enemy territory, familiarize yourself with it so you may use it to your advantage." Sakura rattled off absently, tracing a finger down the path they had taken to get to Tazuna's village. Sasuke nodded, turning to Tazuna.

"We're going to scout around. Is there anything about the land or the animals that you want to tell us to watch out for?" Sasuke asked, bowing down to Tazuna's superior knowledge of their surroundings. The older man nodded, putting his cup down. He pointed to the map.

"As you can see, our village isn't too big. It extends from the bridge out to the beginnings of this mini forest. Past that and even intersecting with, there's some swamps to the west, which was probably where the alligators in Dead Man's Lake came from, some nasty snakes in there, so steer clear.." he cleared his throat, trying to think of anything else. "Uh, there's a huge rift to the north of us, looks like just a little crack, maybe five feet across but hundreds of feet down. We do have poison ivy, but it's less poisonous than the ivy you lot have in Konoha, so I've heard. And watch out for people. Some are not as happy as we are to have you guys here. Other than that... not really."

Sasuke, Sakura, and strangely enough, Naruto, nodded seriously. "Okay, thank you Tazuna-san." Sakura said.

"We'll be back by dinnertime." Sasuke added. "We'll see you then. In the meantime, stay away from the bridge. You can continue working tomorrow." Tazuna slowly got to his feet.

"And what about Ammy?" he asked. Sasuke looked down; remembering the stress Ammy went through. Sakura took one look at his shadowed eyes, and then answered.

"Let her sleep."

[Unknown part of the forest...]

The hunter-nin was leaning over Zabuza's body, tools laid out beside him. He took a scissor-like tool and moved it close to Zabuza's mouth. "First I'll cut the mouth cloth and drain some blood, and then I can..." He came very close, but Zabuza seized his hand and said, "That's alright, I can do it myself. He pulled the wrappings off his mouth and smiled with a slightly crazed look on his face.

"So you already came back.." the boy said.

"Damn, that hurt," Zabuza groaned as he yanked a needle from his neck.

"You shouldn't do that. You may really kill yourself if you pull them out like that," the hunter-nin warned with concern.

"How long are you going to wear that ridiculous mask?" Zabuza asked.

The boy grabbed the mask and started removing it. "It reminds me of the old days...and it really helped for this act," he said as he revealed a feminine face. "If I hadn't saved you then, you would be dead for real," he continued.

"Next time you put me into a momentary death, don't use my neck. There are safer places to put those things" Zabuza said as he weakly replaced the bandages on his mouth, "you are annoying...as usual."

"You're right," the boy said happily. Zabuza just stared at him. "I didn't want to scar your body...and the neck doesn't have much muscle so it is easier to put the needles there. You should be immobile for a week, though you might be able to move a little before that." Zabuza kept his eyes on the boy, "you are pure and clever, and that is what I like about you." The boy chuckled, "that's cause I'm still a kid," he then stood up, "the mist has cleared. Next time we meet them...will you be alright?"

"The Sharingan will be destroyed next time," Zabuza declared.

* * *

Ammy stumbled into the kitchen several hours later, scaring Tsunami for a moment. She smiled at her reassuringly, sitting herself down at the table.

Now calm, Tsunami said, "Would you like anything to eat?" She looked around at their meager home, and then shook her head. She caught her look over.

"No, really." she sat in front of Ammy, her hands clasped tightly in front of her. They shook. "You and your team... you're all doing something very kind. We didn't even pay you, yet you are here, trying to help us to fight against Gatou." Inari paused just outside of the kitchen, listening to his mother's tearful voice.

Ammy watched, panicking when she bowed and started to cry. She was never good with crying women… even if she herself was a girl. "Please! Anything you want to eat, I'll make it." When Tsunami started to sob, Ammy finally relented.

"Alright! Alright!" she said, jumping out of her chair to pat her back. "Just stop crying. You're too pretty to cry." Tsunami smiled and hiccupped. Ammy frowned, appearing to think hard about what she wanted for breakfast.

"I want..." she said quietly. Tsunami wiped away her tears.

"You want..?" she echoed. Ammy gave her a completely serious look.

"I want ramen." Ammy said in a flat tone. Tsunami choked, completely surprised. Out of all the things she'd expect a kid to want, she wanted ramen? Ramen! Ammy saw the disbelieving look on her face and rushed to explain, stealing Naruto's words.

"Ramen's the awesome! My favorite ramen is chicken ramen cause it has a kind of interesting flavor. Beef ramen tastes stale most of the time, but that's 'cause the ramen people don't make it right. But in Konoha, there's this stand, you see, called Ichiraku Ramen. They make the best ramen there! I know the owners pretty well, there's an old man and his daughter, sometimes an older woman too. If you ever go there, you have to eat at the old man's place. And if you do-" her rant was cut off by Tsunami's low melodious laughter. She rubbed the back of her head. _'That was harder to do than I expected… How does Naruto get so worked up over ramen?'_ Inari rolled his eyes and went back up to his room.

"I'll make you your ramen..." she said softly, patting Ammy's head.

* * *

Sakura would realize later, tied to a chair and gagged, that maybe reading while one was supposed to be on the lookout for enemies wasn't the smartest thing to do. But the woods were peaceful, nothing had happened so far, and she was bored. She decided to multitask, and pulled out a scroll.

Several weeks ago, back in Konoha, she had borrowed a large scroll from the library. It was a rather complicated scroll on medical jutsu, a subject that Naruto had gotten her interested in when he had mentioned how her chakra control seemed to be made for healing, on one of their training sessions. It contained simple jutsu, only genin and chūnin level, from diagnostic jutsu to simple ones for healing cuts. However, it was hard to read, so when everyone else was asleep, she took out the scroll and started writing notes.

She looked over them then, deeply involved in the rather complicated aspects of a diagnostic jutsu for detecting poisons. Sakura didn't notice the wire she stepped on, but several people noticed her.

They followed her, less agile than a ninja and not as silent, but very familiar with the land.

Sakura paused, her attention drifting away from her notes; a sixth sense urgently whispering to her that she wasn't alone. She looked back, sure that she'd see someone following her. Then that someone surprised her by jumping out of the bushes and clamping her arms at her sides. She immediately dropped her scroll when she was hoisted into the air.

Panic filled her mind when she realized her stalker was larger and stronger than her, but quickly retreated when she realized that it wasn't Zabuza. It was some burly man with more scars on his face than most ninjas had on his entire body. There wasn't an absence of fear, just calmer than she'd feel if it had been Zabuza instead.

Sakura kept twisted and struggling in his grip, even more so when she saw more men come from out of nowhere. She got one arm free and immediately slammed her elbow into her captor's face. The result was instantaneous. He grunted and dropped her, covering his nose with his hands, trying to stem the flow of blood. Sakura landed in a slight crouch, turned and swept his feet out from under him with her leg.

His comrades formed a circle around her, some shouting "You're gonna get it now brat!" Realizing her need for a quick retreat, she darted at the smallest man, her foot colliding with his chest. He fell back, leaving a gap in the circle that she took advantage of. She disappeared into the brush, much to the men's annoyance.

_Ninja Rule 84: One of two things must happen if a ninja suspects he or she is going to be captured. she thought, a good distance away from the men who ambushed her. The woods were alive, it seemed, no doubt with other members of the mob she had seen. One must either kill themselves to keep the secrets of their village secret, or one must hide the fact that they are a ninja_.

She spied a small crater in the earth, probably from a moved rock. Sakura moved toward it, digging into the soft dirt. She pulled off all of her ninja accessories, dumping them into the hole. She took off her head protector last, her bangs falling over her forehead. Putting the last accessory down slowly and gently on the pile of items, she stared at her reflection in the metal surface.

_'I'll get free._' she promised herself. Hearing the shouts of her soon to be captors, she quickly shifted the dirt back over it, stood, and ran toward the voices, wanting them to keep away from her things.

Twenty men stood around, trying to find a trail in the ground that would hint at her route. They wouldn't find it. She had gone from tree branch to tree branch. She dropped to the ground and hid herself behind a tree trunk. Frowning when she realized that she had lost her way, she saw the value of the grungy looking men. They could help her find her way back to Tazuna's village. Unwittingly, of course.

Sakura knew she could probably keep them running around for a few hours, but she was lost and knew whose territory she was on. Now or later, she'd get caught. She'd prefer to get caught now with them in a good mood, than later with them in a bad mood. It wouldn't do if she got them so riled up that they'd kill her right off the bat.

She was guessing (more like hoping and praying with the zeal of a devote religious person) that they would prefer to sell her for profit instead of their own... uses. _'Oh please don't let me be wrong…'_ Sakura wanted to stay a virgin until she was married. How do I get myself in to these types of situations! She shuddered.

_'I find out where I am, then I'll go back.' _she took a deep shuddering breath. _'Here we go.'_

Sakura walked from out behind the trunk, pretending that she hadn't seen them. Turning, she let out a feminine shriek, grabbing their attention. They ran towards her, and she fought them off, just not as hard as she had before. A blow to the back of her head made her crumble and lose consciousness.

"But.. I coulda sworn-"

"She ain't a ninja, you were just seeing things. She's normal.. and kinda pretty. She'd make good money if we sell her as a slave. Feisty though.."

Several minutes later, a masked ninja walked by and saw a half opened scroll lying on the ground. He paused, picking it up. Guessing that the writing was female, with all of its loops and curves, he slid it into his robes and began walking again.

When Sakura came to, she was tied up tight to a chair and pissed off. They only gagged her when she tried to take a bite out of one of them. For once letting go off her darker side, she cursed at them fiercely through the thick cloth.

The room that she was in was empty and smelly. Her back was to the door. Mold and moss grew in the corners while water damage made the walls look like a strange mix of light gray and dark. She immediately sneezed.

_'Dust and pollen, oh my.'_ she thought sarcastically. _'I'm either gonna die here or catch a cold.'_

They left her alone for awhile, time she used untying the knots of the rope that kept her to the chair. A rusty nail on the hard wooden chair was delaying her escape though, grabbing on to the rope as if it was its last lifeline.

When Sakura heard the door open behind her, she craned her head back as far as it would go, glaring at the man who entered. They all looked the same to her, raggedy clothes, thin and sickly looking. She very faintly remembered Tazuna saying that poverty made monsters out of men.

This one held himself differently. Sakura knew just by reading his body language that he held more power than the lackeys that she had fought. But not any smarter. She very nearly started to laugh at his incompetence when he failed to notice the loosened rope.

"If I take off your gag, will you promise not to bite?" he asked in a slightly scratchy voice.

Sakura cocked her head, a wry grin forming underneath her gag. '_Sick, are you? Serves you right._' She nodded, thinking she might get a disease if she bit the one in front of her.

He took it out of her mouth. "So you bit one of the men, broke another's nose, and kicked the crap out of the rest. Are you a ninja?"

Sakura scowled at him. "There's no ninja in Wave Country." she said sourly. He nodded, chuckling a little.

"That's right. Who taught you how to fight?" She took a breath, knowing that she now had to lie straight out. She was horrible at lying.

"My brother and his friends."

"What's their names?"

"Naruto, Amaterasu, and Sasuke." Naruto was more of a sibling like person to her than Sasuke was. It wasn't a total lie. Ammy was just a friend, and she felt it would only be friends for a long time after how she acted before they were a team. That's the only thing that kept her from turning red and letting him know he was being lied to.

"You're not a Wave Country native. I can tell from your accent. Where are you from?" he asked. Sakura blinked. _'I have an accent?_' She then mentally smacked herself in the head. _'Of course! The Wave Country men and women have a bit of a drawl and I don't. It must sound really different to him.'_

"Fire Country." He scowled. Again with the lack of specifics. She was really irritating him.

"Why are you here?"

"Visiting an uncle."

"His name?"

"Tazuna."

"Why aren't you telling me everything?" Sakura's eyes darkened.

"Maybe you're not asking the right questions." she said in a cool tone.

"Maybe you're being evasive." he countered.

"Maybe you're being overbearing."

"Maybe you're the captive and I'm the captor." he said proudly. Ha! Beat that!

She leaned forward. "Maybe the reason why you're asking so many damn questions is 'cause you're afraid of me." Sakura pretended to lunge forward, snapping her teeth together. The man jumped back and she started to snicker.

"Why you.." he said, advancing on her, a fist raised. The door opened. Another man peered in awkwardly.

"Uh.. that business agreement that the boss wanted to handle... It's here." the man tried to be as vague as possible, seeing an outsider in the room. The man interrogating Sakura waved a hand impatiently.

"Let 'em in here. Let 'em see how we run things around here." he chuckled. The second man shrugged and stepped out of the doorway.

A familiar masked boy walked in. Sakura stiffened, her head turned toward him. Haku paused for a brief moment, recognizing her too.

"You're from Gatou?" the man rasped. Haku nodded. Sakura felt his gaze on her even though his face was pointed toward the man. She wondered if he was going to say anything, but was vaguely disappointed when he continued his conversation with the man as if she wasn't even there. Haku had just turned to leave when Sakura realized that something had hit the chair she was sitting on.

The man exited, probably to go boast about his negotiation skills (although, in her opinion, Haku totally worked him.) and she was once again left alone, too terrified to look down, fearing there'd be a kunai or something of the sort sticking out of her leg.

The curiosity was too much. Sakura looked down to see a senbon sticking in one of the front legs of the chair. It had cut through the last of the rope. She was free.

Sakura stared at the senbon, in shock. Then in a flash, she stood up quickly, pulling the senbon out of the wood absently, and used it to pick the lock. It clicked and the door popped open, music to her ears.

The lot of them were incredibly lazy and lax about security. She found a score of men lounging out in the hallway, all deep in a drunken slumber. She pilfered a map off of one of them, then jumped out the open window.

Glancing only once over her shoulder, she saw her temporary prison had been a simple hut. _'Damn.. I'm gonna be the laughingstock of Konoha.'_ she thought miserably._ 'Caught by a bunch of normal people! Gah.. I'll never hear the end of it. What if Sasuke finds out! I was supposed to return half an hour ago!'_

When Sakura was far enough away, she opened the map. It was much like Tazuna's, only difference was that some sections of the maps were colored differently. Territories maybe? It was simple for her to figure out where she was and the quickest way to get back to her team.

Then she felt Haku's chakra. She looked at the senbon that still rested in her curled hand, then at the direction she'd have to take to get back. Then towards Haku. She bit her lip.

"Damn.." she whispered, going after Haku. "I have a reason. I have to." She glanced back down at weapon in her hand.

Sakura wondered if what she was doing was another of her not so smart ideas, but the need to hand Haku back his senbon was overwhelming. It was of course aided by the fact that she was very much interested in the boy. He had spared Kakashi and the team, albeit he did kick Ammy really hard, and saved her. Yet he was a bad guy. Wasn't he?

She slowed, seeing a stationary Haku through the trees. He sensed her probably even before she had caught up to him, being the genius ninja he was. Probably even waited for her, but kept up the illusion that he was looking out toward the horizon, which was reddening as the day went on.

"Hey," Sakura said, silently letting him know that he could acknowledge her presence. He didn't turn, and for a moment, she thought he was going to ignore her when he spoke.

"You should be gone." Haku said quietly, so quietly that his voice was almost carried away by the wind. Sakura wondered how someone who seemed so fragile could be a ninja.

"I know." she said, biting her lip.

"We are not allies."

"I know." she said again. Haku frowned behind his mask, cocking his head slightly.

"Why are you here?"

"To thank you... and to give this back." She offered the senbon and bowed at the same time. Haku turned, a little amused at strange position that Sakura was in. He grasped her wrist instead of the senbon, reaching into the folds of his robes. His hands were cold.

She stopped bowing and started to panic. Did she violate some sort of bubble law and she was going to lose her hand because of it? Haku waved away those nonsense notions when he revealed what he was searching for was not a knife, rather, a scroll that looked familiar.

"I believe you dropped this?" Haku asked, flipping the thin scroll between his fingers. Sakura nodded mutely and reached for it with her other hand.

Haku released his grip on her wrist and retrieved his senbon as Sakura retrieved her scroll.

"An eye for an eye.." the boy murmured, walking away.

Sakura hugged the scroll to her chest, staring at his retreating from. "W-wait!" she called, running after him. He stopped and turned around.

"Why?" realizing she was being vague when Haku cocked his head to the side, she rushed to add, "Why did you save me?"

Haku shifted from one foot to the other, an oddly nervous gesture. His hand came up in front of his mask. Griping the edges, he pulled it off.

Sakura stared into warm brown eyes. A faint smile appeared on Haku's face, making him appear younger than he actually was.

_'How can someone work with a guy like Zabuza.. yet have such innocent and kind eyes?'_ Sakura asked herself.

"Because.. I was not ordered to kill you." With that, he slipped back on the mask and walked away.

Sakura stared after him. "Because.. he wasn't ordered to kill me." she echoed quietly.

'_Ninjas are tools.'_ she thought. _'Mere playthings in the wrong hands. I'm a tool. That boy is a tool. But he's in the wrong hands. He must know that.. but what keeps him in those hands? What thing, what emotion allows him to be used by Zabuza without any regrets?'_

Sakura came into a risky situation with many questions and had emerged with them answered, but had formed more questions._ 'Some things cannot be rushed.'_ she thought, turning around and walking back to the area where she had buried her stuff. _'I will find out later why he is the way he is. But for now, I want to be with my precious people.'_

* * *

Sasuke frowned, his arms crossed over his chest. '_There's probably a logical reason why she's late._' he reasoned to himself. She isn't Kakashi! He withheld the urge to go after her, his eyes silently following the trail he told her to take on the map.

"I should have given this to her…" he mused out loud. But he had felt... Well... more important, as silly as it sounded, with a map in hand. And now she was probably lost because he was being childish.

He paced the clearing they had stopped at before parting each other's company, the place they were supposed to have met at forty-five minutes ago. Thinking back to what he had faced on his small journey in the northern most areas, he was regretting and kicking himself again for suggesting that they split up.

The men had been nothing compared to him, but Sakura wasn't a physical, or even a Ninjutsu type. She was best at genjutsu and didn't have the stamina or the amount of chakra and experience that Sasuke or even Naruto had.

_'If she got caught... it'll be my entire fault. Just another screw up. First Itachi (how could I not see he was turning dark?), and now her?'_

Guilt made him turn to the rustling in the bushes, hoping to see Sakura immerge, but the more realistic side of him made him pull out a kunai. It was most likely another gang member trying to get the better of him.

It turned out to be neither.

Yawning, Naruto gave him a cranky look, making Sasuke feel a little better. As long as he wasn't the only one in a bad mood...

"Where's Sakura." Just a flat statement, formed like a question, Sasuke observed. He didn't add -chan to the end of her name like he always does.

"I don't know." Sasuke said in the same flat tone. Naruto stared at him.

"You let a pretty girl like Sakura-chan go out all alone without the map? You send me off first just to do that behind my back?" Naruto said incredulously, some of the life returning back to his voice. "Man, you really are a heartless bastard." Sasuke flinched. Naruto pretended he didn't notice. He continued to ream him.

"Don't you know any better? Do you even have a clue what is going on that does not directly involve you?" Sasuke's eyes flashed.

"You have no right in saying I'm clueless. Because I'm not. If anyone is clueless, it would be you." Sasuke smirked. "Chibi."

Naruto actually took several steps back, mouth flapping but no words coming out, a hand on his chest as if Sasuke had mortally wounded him. Sasuke couldn't help but smile. Naruto was such a fool sometimes.

"Go ahead!" Naruto finally sputtered. "Make fun of the short guy, why don't you! You damn racist, uh no... sizist person!"

"Sizist?" Someone else tried out the strange word. Sasuke and Naruto turned to the bushes, watching as Sakura calmly smoothed her dress down. "Sizist?" she said again. "Is that really even a word?" Naruto had the courtesy to blush.

"Yeah.. uh well.. when we fight.. I really don't think." he said, slightly embarrassed. Sasuke started to insult him again but stopped, not when he realized it was too easy, but when he saw dark red marks on Sakura's wrists.

Naruto and Sakura started to argue over whether or not sizist was a word. Sasuke didn't pay any attention, eyes dark in guilt and rage. _'Those are rope burns. She must have been caught. Who tried to hurt her?'_

"Ugh! Sizist is not a word!" Sakura said. "You can't just make up words because you're vertically challenged!" She turned on her heel, leaving for the house. Naruto stayed back, a faint smile hidden by a pout. As soon as she was gone, the faint smile on his face dropped.

"You noticed it." Naruto said. Sasuke looked over, seeing the feeling of guilt that he himself was feeling, so clearly displayed in Naruto's eyes. He nodded. Naruto looked grim. "I never want to see her hurt. I never want to see anyone on this team hurt."

Sasuke nodded again. Naruto started to follow Sakura, stiffness in his shoulders and stride loosening with every step. "Ya know, Sakura is like a tightly closed box about her weaknesses and things like that… but... if I find out who did that to her, I'm gonna kick his ass." Naruto glanced back, a half smile on his face. "You game?"

His answer was a smirk and a determined nod.

* * *

In a building not too far away, a man was in bed, unconscious from a tough battle. He was a powerful man, with much chakra and very good chakra control, but his stamina wasn't as powerful. Especially after being sick for two weeks before hand with a rare and more deadly version of the common cold that was frequent in Wave Country.

He was a man that had many enemies and even allies who wouldn't mind killing him. He only had one that he would trust his life with. That single person, his precious friend and partner, sat next to his bed, keeping a watchful vigilance.

"Zabuza-san.." Haku whispered, abandoning his mask for a while. "Gatou and two men with great fighting auras are coming." It was slight, but Haku could tell that Zabuza was awake. He had always been a light sleeper.

The double doors were flung open, the loud bang of the wood hitting the walls would have woke up Zabuza even if Haku didn't. The mist devil opened his eyes, briefly exchanging a look with Haku. The boy nodded.

"So even you have come back defeated. It looks like the mist nins are pretty pathetic." Gatou strolled in, two tall samurai guards at his sides. "And you call yourself a devil? Don't make me laugh."

Zabuza said nothing, entertaining a mental picture of slicing Gatou's head right off, the pompous asshole. The guards loosened the ties on their swords and brought the hilts in front of them.

An attack? Haku questioned, prepared to defend. Gatou held out a hand, a smirk on his face.

"Hold on for a second." he walked toward Zabuza. "Hey." He reached out a hand. "There's not need to stay silent." The businessman reached for Zabuza's mask.

Haku caught his arm in a firm grip. "Don't touch Zabuza-san with your dirty hands." the boy hissed. Gatou cried out in pain when he felt his ulna and radius being crunched together. The samurai reached for their swords. Their hands had barely begun reaching for their swords when they felt cold steel against their throats. Zabuza finally reacted, a slight turn of his head to look at the guards, cold amusement in his eyes and a fearsome grin under his bandages. Gatou lost feeling in his legs and fell to the ground, staring open mouthed at Haku and his guards.

They sweated nervously, recognizing their own blades. He moved so quickly!

"You shouldn't do that." Haku hissed. "I'm not in the best of moods now." Gatou remembered that he was supposed to be the one giving orders and quickly stood. Holding his arm gingerly, he hastily walked out, his guards following.

"One more time!" He shouted. "If you fail one more time you won't be welcome here anymore. Remember that!" The doors slammed shut behind them. Zabuza looked at Haku, who was a little flushed from his anger.

"Haku, you didn't have to.." he lifted his blankets, revealing his hidden kunai. Haku smiled.

"I know..but it's too early to kill Gatou. If we cause a commotion here, they will be after us again." Haku didn't need to explain who they were. It was understood by the both of them that it was the hunter nins, coming after Zabuza and his head. "We must be patient."

"Yeah.. you're right." He sat up, rolling his stiff shoulders. Haku looked out the window, a frown drawing his face inward.

The team of four facing down Zabuza.

_'Such emotional, yet innocent people. Why? Why indeed. I like to know that myself, girl.' _The faces of those children flashed over and over in his mind's eye.

Zabuza looked up, not recognizing the look on his subordinate's face.

"What's wrong?" he asked, straight to the point. Haku glanced at him from the corner of his eye.

"I have a request." the boy said, looking both serious and worried at the same time. "If I can... isolate Hatake's subordinates-"

"You don't want them to die." Zabuza guessed. "Or... you don't want to kill them." Haku nodded, looking shamed. He was in a business where one was needed to kill on command. Emotions were not needed. He bowed his head.

Zabuza looked at him, an unreadable expression on his face. Then he gave Haku his command. "You shall, how did you phrase it... isolate Kakashi's brats." Haku looked relieved. "But if they get free, I fully expect you to kill them." Haku nodded.

"Thank you. And I'm sorry." he bowed his head again. Zabuza hesitated, then put his hand on Haku's head, like how he used to when the boy was merely a child.

"Don't regret the fact that you're more human than me."

**End of Chapter 4**

**_~Omake!~_**

[{{play this as you read. : Valentine- Kina Grannis }}]

It was a seemingly typical day in the village of Konoha; calm, quiet, and relaxing. Well, at least it seemed to be that way. It was Valentines, and if you peeked into Ichiraku's Ramen Shop, you'll see Team 7, albeit only three of them, having a slightly heated discussion for a certain raven's love life.

Soft music was playing from the small ceiling speakers of the small ramen shop.

" Teme, give Sakura-Chan something!" Naruto said to his raven-haired teammate while, somehow nonchalantly slurping of his ramen. Sasuke glared at the blonde boy next to him at the ramen counter, an angry flush adorning his cheeks.

"Yeah broody. Everyone knows how much you just l_ove_ her!" Ammy grinned poking him with the clean end of her chopsticks. Sasuke spun around to the girl on his left and glared indignantly. He turned and stared at his half finished ramen bowl and prodded at it.

"Hn"

"Sasuke! Come on!"

"Hn"

"Is this really necessary broody? You're making this harder for yourself in the long run."

"Hn!"

"DUCK-ASS-HEAD!" Ammy shouted in unison with Naruto's holler of, "SASUKE!"

"If you care so much, why don't you give her something, Naruto?"

"Because she likes YOU not MEEEE" Naruto chirped.

"You do it Ammy."

"Uhh…How about…No? I'm a girl, and I doubt she'd appreciate a present from a girl, dumbass."

"Hn."

"GRRRR!" the two growled.

By now the trio was getting weird looks from everyone around them, so Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the back on his shirt and Ammy by her jacket's hood, and dragged them into an alley off the main square to continue their argument. Ammy reached her arm back last second to grab her last mango flavored mochi ice cream.

"Sasuke, come on!" the two pouted.

"No"

"Yes!" they returned in unison.

"No"

"Do it!"

"NO!"

"I'll tie you to a tree." Ammy threatened. "I'll dye you hair orange!" Naruto grinned.

They glanced at each other and smirked. Ammy focused back on Sasuke. "And we'll both dye your wardr-"

"Fine!"

"-obe pink and paint your ho- wait WHAT?"

Sasuke blushed and tucked his chin into the collar of his blue shirt, while Naruto gaped in astonishment. Ammy smirked knowingly, finger resting on her chin.

"Ah. I see…Hehehehehe…" she snickered.

"I said fine. I'll give Sakura something, as long as you both shut the fuck up" Sasuke growled. Naruto nearly fell over in joy. Ammy twirled, her hair trailing and falling against her back as she stopped and flashed a victory sign.

Naruto began to yammer on about all the ways Sasuke could woo Sakura with his coolness and the pair began to walk out of the alley, Ammy shadowed behind eating the melting remainder of the ice-cream. Sasuke looked like he wanted to disappear into the ground as Naruto skipped with glee. Sasuke and Naruto veered off to the Yamakana's flower shop.

"Ummm….Not the best of ideas guys. Ino and her parents work there." Ammy warned, her face contorted in a grimace. Their faces shared small 'O's of comprehension as they turned around and walked to the marketplace. As the trio weaved through the crowd of people Sasuke was began to regret his decision...

"Hehehe….Too late for regrets now Broody!" Ammy quipped seeing Sasuke's slight aura of nervousness.

"Get her a flower or two, oh wait. No, get her a bouquet and maybe she'll... I don't know, kiss you or something" Sasuke stopped in his tracks, glaring at Naruto, who looked back at his teammate with an innocent look.

"So it's true! Don't try to tell us you haven't fantasized about her, Teme" Naruto put his hands behind his head and grinned.

"Yeah. We've both seen you drifting off to La-La Land whenever you glance at her! Ahahahahaha! You've got it bad!" Ammy teased, pointing and laughing at him.

Sasuke scowled, shoving his hands into his pockets. It was bad enough that he had gotten into this Valentine's mess, but truth was... He liked Sakura. He shouldn't, but he did. The only thing that stopped him from doing this willingly was his stupid pride. He had shoved Sakura away from him as long as he could remember; it was a bit out of character to change that now...

They arrived at the local flower shop.

Sasuke paused at a flower cart, looking over the bright blossoms. Naruto mysteriously appeared at his shoulder, nearly scaring him half to death as the blonde began to yell in his ear.

"What flowers you going to get? You should get those pink ones, she'd like those" Sasuke spun and punched Naruto with a right hook, sending the blonde sprawling.

"Owww Teme, what was that for?" Naruto whined from the ground.

"Hn"

"Here get her these!" Ammy pointed out.

Sasuke glanced over at the flowers Ammy had pointed out and paled. The flowers were roses and were mostly white, the only red ones being in the center and arranged as a heart. The price was atrocious.

"Too muc-"

He was cut off with a sadistic grin from Ammy as she threw one of her kunai up, flashing through the air, only to land, point first, on her finger. She chuckled darkly. Sasuke quickly spun around and picked up the bouquet of roses shakily and picked out a thick wad of ryo for them, selecting a dark blue ribbon from the vendor and tying it around the stems. _'My wallet…'_

"Happy?" Sasuke glowered, holding up the small bouquet for his teammate's approval. Naruto nodded vigorously. Ammy flashed him a thumbs up and a grin in the 'Nice Guy' pose.

"Now to find the lucky lady!" He yelled, standing up in a flash

"Whatever" He growled under his breath, walking away and trying not to blush. He was quickly losing his nerve.

"Hey Naru. She told me she was at the training grounds."

"Oh. Sasuke, go make your move! YOSH!" Naruto yelled, pumping his fist. Sasuke just blinked.

"Or in your case, just go, Ice prick" Ammy smirked. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, then walked to the training grounds, happy to leave the loud blonde behind and condescending brunette behind.

Naruto suddenly became very fidgety. "S-so Ammy…wannagooutwithmeandgoeatatmy placetonightatseven?" he stammered looking everywhere else but at Ammy.

Ammy smiled at him a flush blooming on her cheeks. "A high five would have sufficed you know… Hm…Didn't think you were the cooking type." She nudged his cheek with her fist and grinned. "Yeah. I'll go." She seemed to contemplate something for a moment as she stared at her toes. She looked up with a determined gleam in her eyes and turned to peck him on the cheek with a chaste kiss.

Naruto stood there astounded as Ammy rushed away giggling. _'…'_

"YES!"

Once at the familiar training grounds, Sasuke froze. He could see Sakura down by the lake, staring at the water. He was clueless. Sasuke walked up quickly, pausing only an arm's length from the pinkette. Gathering all his courage, Sasuke tossed the flowers, putting on his best Uchiha facade as the bouquet arced over Sakura's head, landing perfectly in her lap.

"Huh?" She asked quietly, whipping her head around to look at him.

"Hn" He said, mentally facepalming himself. Sakura stared at him in disbelief.

"Happy Valentine's Day…" Sasuke mumbled trailing off at the end, trying not to blush. Sakura blinked. Inner Sakura leapt in joy.

Great, now he felt like a total idiot. Sakura stood up, clutching the flowers tightly.

"Thanks" She replied with a soft smile, hugging Sasuke. The Uchiha was completely taken aback by his teammate's actions, unsure of what to do. He awkwardly returned the hug, and Sakura giggled.

"Wow. I haven't had this kind of dream in a while," Sakura said, pulling away. Sasuke looked at her quizzically.

"The great Sasuke giving me flowers? Returning my hug?" Sakura shook her head. "A dream. An impossibility. Like from my academy days."

Sasuke felt a flash of irritation. _'Well sure. I go out of my way for this, and you think you imagining it.'_

"You're not dreaming" He said, carefully trying to not do glare as he typically would. Sakura had a confused look decorating her face. The reason dawned on her and she laughed.

"Then did Naruto and Ammy put you up to this?" She asked, raising an eyebrow as she sniffed the flowers. Sasuke shrugged.

"Thanks again" Sakura said. "It really made my day, even if this is a dream," Sasuke frowned.

Suddenly two entities appeared on his shoulders. Mini-Naruto on his right looked up at him with his halo and hissed, "Psst! Sasuke! Kiss her! Now!" The mini-Ammy poked his cheek with her pitchfork and grinned. "~Do it or I'll castrate you!~" she sung the threat, looking all too happy.

Sasuke threw caution to the winds, deciding to follow his teammates' advice for once, even if it cost him his life. He grabbed Sakura's waist, pulling her forwards, and then kissed her. On the lips.

Sakura's gasp of utter surprise echoed through the clearing, and cheers emanated from Sasuke's shoulders before they poofed back into nothing. Sasuke pulled away after a few seconds of contact, stepping back and watching Sakura warily.

"What...?" She gasped, eyes wide.

Sasuke smirked, and then did something that shocked Sakura, yet again.

He fainted.

He, the oh-so-great Uchiha Sasuke fainted.

And team seven all woke up. Loudly. Screaming in bloody murder.

"Wha- What the fuck was that?" Ammy gasped, her cheeks tinted with pink. '_N-Naruto… asked me o- NOPE! I am going back to sleep. Not gonna think about it. Nu-uh. Don't think about it.' _She plopped back onto her futon and swiftly fell back asleep.

Sakura was blushing furiously, sitting upright in her futon. She groaned. _'I knew it was just a dream…Stupid dream Sasuke, getting my hopes up stupid little mother-'_she sunk back onto the futon mumbling angrily to herself.

In the other room, Naruto sat in the dark staring blankly at the wall across from him. _'Ammy… '_ His cheeks felt warmer than usual...

Sasuke was…well…asleep. Hm. Did he just pass out? Again? Oh well. Guess we'll never know, now will we?

**Ah. Filler chapters. Gotta love them. =3**

**Hoped you liked the Omake, (plot stolen from The Dark Knight's Revenge, Thanks Man!)**

**Read and Review!**

**Thanks to **

Guest

**colourseeker12**

**Sayonara Yasashii Akumu**

**Akashi Ookami**

_and_

Too lazy

**For Reviewing! **

**So yeah. I hope you enjoyed your Valentines gift, you awesome people of the internet. And vote in the new poll! Winner of the pairings poll is pretty apparent, if you ask me, but I wont tell you guys anyways. =3**

**Ja-Ne!**

*******~OkamiAmaterasu2015 signing off~***

A.N. (2/18/13) Wow. Tough crowd. Guess you guys don't like the fillers, huh? Jeez. Well. Just so you know, Update dates are on my profile, and expect one or two more chapters of fillers. I'm still waiting on the Zabuza Haku poll so that I could write the fight. So hurry it up guys!

**To Guest:** Yes i had realized that i may have overpowered Ammy quite a bit, but if you read my original, Ammy was much to overpowered. And as mentioned in chapter one, she had trained to enter the academy late and pass without much prior knowledge. So she had worked herself to the max, not knowing that the genin exams were a lot more passable then she had thought. Well, that's what i had meant before, but now it's a bit late to mention it, am I right? So there is my reason for her being stronger.


	5. Chapter 5: Training for The Fight!

**Chapter 5: To Train for the Fight!**

**Wow. Last chapter disappointed me review wise. God. I knew people hated fillers, but to this extent? I'm hurt *pouts*. But since I'm like a week later than I expected, here's the chapter. By the way, welcome back to a filler! In Narutoverse! Don't see that often, do we? Peh. This was all prewritten anyways.*shrugs* Whatever. Read and review guys! No. I'm serious. Reviews are like love to me. No reviews, no love, and then I get unmotivated XP Welll, without further ado, here's the stinkin' chapter. BTW, Vote in the polls guys.**

The Hokage pinched the bridge of his nose to ward off the impending migraine. Out of all of his subordinates, Gai was certainly the most energetic.

"Our ANBU had come across two tied up missing-nin right outside our gates, the Demon brothers, and the two were put into interrogation. It turns out that Team Seven has been given an assignment that was improperly graded. Where we had thought it was a C class mission, it is really a B or even higher class. We can't spare too many people, so your team will go back them up. You understand?" He regretted having to send another genin team, but with Gai and Kakashi there, it would fit the requirements for a two man team for an A class mission. The genin would simply have to stay on the sidelines.

"Rival Kakashi needs me! And when I save him and his students... wait... Kakashi actually passed a team?" Gai broke off his rambling rant, looking rather confused. "That is not like him."

Sarutobi rested his chin on his hands. "Yes, I believe that he was surprised about that too." He remembered Kakashi walking in on the jōnin meeting for Kurenai, Asuma, and himself an hour late, a half dazed, half happy look on his face, announcing that he finally had a team.

Gai looked like he had been told it was Christmas in July. "Then we are to go save the rookies and Kakashi! And then, and then! We'll have our teams spar together! And then, and then-"

"A simple yes or no would work just nicely, thank you."

Gai saluted the Hokage with one of his patented grins. "Yes!" Sarutobi ruffled through some papers then pulled out a file and handed it over to Gai. Gai opened up, frowning when he saw a picture of Zabuza up in the front. '_Him!'_

"You have one day to prepare."

* * *

"He's late." Tenten stated in a flat tone, looking at her wrist watch. She sat in one of the trees, feet lightly swaying. Lee frowned and stopped practicing.

"Perhaps he's taking a leaf out of Kakashi's book." Neji said in an equally flat tone. He leaned more into the tree he was sitting against.

Tenten shuddered, remembering exactly what Kakashi considered good reading material. "I hope not."

Lee stood up for his mentor. "You truly have no faith in Gai-sensei! We must believe in him!" The genin struck a pose.

A disembodied voice floated around them. "Those who believe in me, believe in the power of youth!" Gai appeared in a cloud of smoke. "My unfaithful students and Lee, I have managed to get you all a mission! A mission where your youthful efforts and strengths will be rewarded-"

"Oh brother." Tenten muttered, tuning out the rest of Gai's speech. After ten minutes of staring at one of the trees blankly, she turned to Neji.

"Recap."

He opened his eyes. "Mission. High leveled C class because there will be two genin teams. Backing up Team Seven. The one with the Uchiha. Wave Country. One day to prepare." he said in a monotone. She thanked him, not having the attention span or patience he had to listen to one of Gai's speeches.

* * *

Neji walked back to the mansion, deep in thought about their next mission. They knew that there was at least one missing nin involved, who either Kakashi or Gai had to defeat while he and the other genin were merely damage control.

He went through the gate. Half way in, he saw Hinata. She was partly hidden by a screen door. Pausing, Neji watched her silhouette lift something up, and then drag it across her outstretched arm. He immediately started to frown. _'I didn't know she was a cutter.'_ he thought, scoffing. '_How pathetic.'_

His stride quickened as he went up the stairs and into the mansion. He turned for his room, hoping that no one would notice him. Luckily, no one did. He would have peace until he had to show up at Gai's house.

They were supposed to sleep at his house the day before a mission. It was to improve the group's dynamic, apparently. He sighed, knowing it would be a sleepless night. Lee talked too damn much! But Tenten had said the last time they had slept over that her father(who owned the only weapons shop in Konoha) had gotten some pretty powerful sleeping poisons that were meant to be used with a special weapon he had in stock and wouldn't it be so nice if she used some of it on Lee? Did she have to ask? He had agreed wholeheartedly and hoped she remembered.

His door slid open behind him. "Neji-nīsan?" someone said tentively. "May I come in?" Neji looked over his shoulder at his cousin, remembering what he had seen.

"If that is what you wish." he said in a monotone. Hinata stepped into the threshold of the room, looking out of place.

"Anou... I... w-well... I h-heard you have a mission..." she stuttered. Neji kept packing, his face impassive. "N-Neji-nīsan! I have something for you!" Finally, he turned around, staring at the small brown jar that was being offered to him.

"Um.. When you wear your bandages... y-you know... Your skin get burned and stuff from the friction..." she gulped. "This is for the burns." Neji frowned. It made sense. He did occasionally get burns from wearing the fighting bandages, but usually ignored the pain. He hesitatingly reached out to it.

When he registered the weight of the burn balm in his palm, everything started to click together. The thick smell of herbs around her room. The cutting. All the times she came home late, well after he knew her team practice was over. The books and scrolls she started to cart around. The jar in his hand. He reached out and grabbed her wrist, flipping it over to look at the underside of her arm.

There were no scars or any signs of recent cuts. Neji fixed the suddenly nervous girl a blank stare.

"You should be more careful." he said. Her eyes widened, realizing what he was talking about. "It is not allowed in this clan. Leave my room, if you will." Terrified, Hinata ran out of the room. After a moment, Neji continued packing. He walked over to his closet to retrieve his spare explosion tags, eyes occasionally straying to the brown chest on the top of his closet. Sighing in defeat, he put aside the tags and reached up for the box.

_Hyuuga Hizashi_. The name on the chest had been carved in by hand. He put the chest down on his desk and undid the latch. Inside, there were pictures and various other trinkets his father had collected, bringing a faint smile to Neji's face.

However, it was not time to mourn the past. He reached under the photographs and pulled out a book. _'I suppose you'd be happy that someone else is following your footsteps, Father.'_

* * *

Dazed and terrified, Hinata wandered around Konoha without a destination. _'Will he tell Father? Will I be forbidden to continue, or disowned?' _She had tripped and stumbled a few times, mumbling quiet apologies, too into her thoughts and fears. _'Will Father take away my right to be a ninja?'_

After thirty minutes of wandering (strange, it seemed like it had been a lifetime), she turned around and walked back to the mansion. '_I might as well face it... the ground doesn't look like it's going to open up and swallow me anytime soon.'_

Scurrying up to her room like a mouse that feared that she would be stepped on, Hinata was relieved when no one looked at her like she was some kind of criminal. No half impassive, half 'you're in trouble' looks from anyone.

She closed the door behind her, not wanting to jinx her good fortune. _'Maybe Neji-nīsan didn't tell anyone?'_ she thought hopefully, then stiffened when she saw something on her bed. It appeared to be a book. With trembling hands, she picked it up and opened the cover. Hinata sneezed, correcting herself.

It wasn't just a book; it was a very old book. It was about ancient medical techniques used by the founders of the village. A thin scrap of paper slipped out of the pages, but before she could thing to retrieve it, her eyes focused on the writing inside the cover.

"This belongs to Hyuuga Hizashi." she read. '_My uncle? Neji's father?_' She remembered Hizashi quite well. He always gave her treats and smiled at her even when she was failing horribly at something. When in his presence, she had wished that she had been his daughter, even if she would have been in the branch family. Eyes moistening in remembrance of her beloved uncle, she reached for the note.

It was rushed and to the point: _Father would have been proud_.

Outside the Hyuuga estate, Neji took one last glance at the place he had always hesitated to call home. '_If that is the road that you wish to take in order to become strong, Hinata-sama, then I will not stand in your way.'_

* * *

Naruto yawned, flashing long canines at his companions over the breakfast table. Only Inari was unsettled by the sight.

Apparently Ammy woke up the day before and was left alone at the house. She said she had felt lonely, so she trained all day and returned an hour or so before the others did, just to go straight back to sleep.

Kakashi ate heartily, having woken up from his coma like state a few hours prior, only to get chastised by Sakura, who threw rule after rule in the masked nin's face about chakra depletion and how you're not supposed to do it. Kakashi merely smiled, happy that someone was worrying over him for once.

Sasuke glared at Kakashi. Only Kakashi could eat without showing off the lower portion of his face. He entertained thoughts of knocking the milk carton, rudely obscuring his view, and seeing what his teacher looked like underneath that damn mask once and for all. Of course, he wasn't curious, he assured himself. But when a rice ball went missing and Kakashi looked suspiciously happy, Sasuke relented, admitting the truth. He was curious.

And he thought it was completely unfair that of all of them at the table, Naruto was the only one who had the opportunity to see Kakashi exposed...yet the blond wasn't doing a damn thing about it, too busy stuffing his face.

Not even one twitch of the eye towards Kakashi. Hell, the guy didn't even look over at his sensei, either too tired or insanely interested to see what was at the bottom of his ramen bowl.

He wondered if it was the fact that Kakashi knew that Naruto wouldn't be too interested in the morning, or if it was because the jōnin trusted Naruto not to make a big deal out of it that he let the blond sit in the best angle to catch a glimpse of his face.

"Well! Whatcha guys planning on doing today?" Tazuna asked. Kakashi looked interested, in a vaguely bored way.

"No. We're training. Whoever finishes the training first will escort you to the bridge." Kakashi said, securing his mask. Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura as well, began to scowl. Ammy brightened.

"Then send me! I don't need to sit in for the training!" she grinned.

"Hm. Nice try, kiddo." Kakashi muttered absently, smiling when Ammy pouted.

* * *

They left the house; Tsunami's final_ 'Be careful!'_ as well as Inari's cold stare staying with them as they walked. Naruto retaliated by sticking his tongue out at the boy, who seemed surprised that they knew he was watching.

Kakashi stopped in a clearing he had noted when he had departed(more like was dragged. Stupid Sasuke.) for Tazuna's home. The clearing wasn't really that great of a clearing, a small ten feet gap between trees, but he hardly cared about the space. He was looking at the trees themselves.

They were tall and thin, but not too thin where a strong wind would blow them away. The branches only really started up at the top, which meant his students wouldn't be faced with the temptation to sit down and rest a moment.

Being genin, he knew that their chakra control needed some extra polishing and excluding Naruto, whose stamina was so crazy that it could hardly be described in words, and Ammy, who had prior stamina training before even hitting genin, the team was also seriously lacking in endurance. Speaking of the brunette, Kakashi realized with a strange sense of amusement that she was bored. Ammy's foot kept on tapping and she kept on sighing, fixing the jōnin with an annoyed look that he recognized all too well.

It was Obito's patented _'Why the hell are you wasting my time and why the hell haven't I killed you yet!_' It was enough to make Kakashi grin. Strange how random thoughts of his old deceased team mate didn't hurt as much anymore.

"So... we're going to climb trees?" Sakura said, looking highly doubtful. "I don't see how that will help us too much..." '_Actually, it sounds utterly boring..._'

"It's going to help you three because you are only going to use your feet and your chakra. Like so." Kakashi walked up the side of the tree, much to Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke's surprise. He stopped when he reached the branch and walked out on it, mentally grinning at his student's surprise. He made the mistake of looking down and almost dropped when he realized Ammy was still bored. '_Keh...'_ Kakashi thought rather childishly. '_What a hard to please kid_.' He pouted, tossing four kunai down in front of their feet.

"You try. And use these to mark your process." he said neutrally, making his way down.

Sasuke grabbed one of the kunai and stared the tree down, as if it was an enemy ninja preparing to strike. Sakura grabbed one too, looking a little confused. Naruto exuberantly grabbed his kunai, and held it like Sasuke. Ammy picked up the last one, bored as hell, her eyes flicking from side to side, looking for an opening. Kakashi made it to level ground. "It's best if you give yourself a running start." Some grumbles, all Ammy, met his ears, but his students took several paces back. "Alright... Start!"

Sasuke's foot immediately shot off of the bark, burning it a little in the shape of his foot. '_Dammit!'_ The momentum of his run allowed him to go up a little, but he could feel the bark cracking and slipping beneath his feet. He slashed the kunai against the bark, then flipped backwards, landing gracefully on the ground.

Sakura didn't put enough chakra in her feet and ended up slipping. Flushing, she realized she hadn't been paying enough attention, her mind wandering back to review the memories of the last few days. She got up, rubbing the small of her back. _'Get it together Haruno!'_

Naruto ran up a few feet before his chakra blew him off the tree. He quickly swiped the kunai at the tree to mark his progress. _'This…wasn't as easy as I thought…"_

Ammy hadn't moved. She had crossed his arms over her chest and was frowning at the ground. Figuring that she was thinking of the best way to walk up the tree, Kakashi let her be.

"Too much chakra, you'll destroy the tree. Too little of it, you won't even stick." Kakashi said helpfully. "You have to find the middle."

Sasuke frowned, thinking quickly. '_Maybe I should focus the chakra to those parts of my feet like Ammy told us during breakfast..._

_**Flashback**_

"_Hey Ammy, how did you walk on water like Zabuza and Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, suddenly remembering the fight a few days prior._

"_Oh. That? Ummm… I don't really know how to explain it but, I focused the chakra to my foot and had it move like the water I was standing on… I learned it from Sakuya-sensei so expect it to be drilled into my head…tee hee." She stopped as she took a sip of her water. She looked up thoughtfully as she lifted a small protein bar to her lips. "Hm…There is a shortcut that I read about, though. If you guys have arched feet, just focus it to the heels and balls of your feet. It supposedly works, but I wouldn't know. Ahahaha… What? Stop staring at me dammit!"_

_**End Flashback**_

'_Hm… Decreasing the surface area should help with my control._' Concentrating, he focused energy into his heel and the ball of his foot. Trying to scale the tree again, he found himself flailing barely two feet away from the ground. Instinctively, more chakra shot out of his foot and wrapped around the trunk. It only slowed his descent slightly and scorched the bark even more.

Wincing at the dull thud of Sasuke hitting the ground, Kakashi said, "Creative, but no. There is a reason why you have toes. It's to help you walk. Using that trick of yours won't help. You need chakra in your toes to stick to the trunk." He switched his gaze to Sakura. The genin stood up straight, one foot on the trunk. She was testing how much chakra would make her foot stick to the bark. When her foot suddenly shot off, putting her off balance, he guessed that she put forth too much chakra. He didn't have any objections to her experimentation so he turned to Naruto, who charging up the tree like Sasuke. Kakashi sighed. '_Well, his chakra_ is _channeled to his entire foot… Ah, he'll figure the rest out on his own…' _Kakashi finally turned to Ammy.

Who was suddenly being very loud.

"Hey hey! Why don't we sing a song?" the girl bellowed, bringing everyone in the clearing (and probably everyone in a mile radius) to focus on her. Kakashi sighed, and then narrowed his eyes. Something wasn't right. His head tilted slightly to look behind her._ 'You really need to work on your stealth, Ammy'_. He thought, eyeing a small grey blur that was tiptoeing away.

"Everyone with me! I love you, you love me, let's be friends and family, with a great big hug..."

Sakura twitched, turning a glare of death toward her. '_She's breaking my concentration!_' Ammy squeaked when she saw the look in her eyes, but continued singing. Sasuke eyed his kunai rather longingly. Naruto fell on the ground and palmed his face.

"and a kiss to me and you! Won't you say you love me t-"

Kakashi frowned and threw a rock at Ammy from her blind spot. Oblivious and still singing, she exploded into a cloud of smoke. Sakura gaped, mouth opening and closing without any noise.

"A kage bunshin?" Sasuke muttered, looking confused. Naruto snickered. "And you guys always call _me_ the stupid one, dattebayo." Meanwhile, Kakashi was on the prowl. Silently following the grey creature in front of him, his hand darted out and grabbed the creature by the back of her neck. Immediately whining and whimpering, she tried to break Kakashi's grip. When the jōnin kept walking, she went limp, accepting the evitable.

Blinking owlishly, his other two students watched as he held a rather adorable kitten by the back of her neck. The kitten almost looked like it was pouting.

"Look familiar?" Kakashi said in a bland voice, lightly shaking the kitten. The illusion dropped, showing that he actually had Ammy by the back of her jacket. She was hanging in the air, her face twisted in a half scowl and half pout expression.

Despite her annoyance, Sakura had to smile. Ammy was almost like a dark haired, female Naruto sometimes.

"Ammy, Ammy, Ammy..." Kakashi said, tsking. "Here I give you a perfectly good training exercise and you attempt to ditch us? I'm wounded. You're going to make me cry." Ammy turned annoyed eyes toward her teacher.

"I told you already, dammit! I already know how to do this!" Ammy shouted. Kakashi sighed.

"Well, sensei..." Sakura said, sticking up for Ammy, "Isn't water walking similar to tree climbing? She did that just fine."

"Yeah, but the trick she told us this morning didn't work on the trees." Sasuke countered. Ammy made an impatient noise in the back of her throat and wrestled one of her sandals off while still hanging from Kakashi's hand.

"See?" Ammy announced, sticking out her foot. Kakashi quirked an eyebrow.

"No… but I can smell..." the jōnin said humorously. Ammy flailed, hitting Kakashi in the leg with her sandal for the insult.

"I have flat feet, you dumbass! That trick doesn't work for me!" Kakashi rubbed his chin, contemplating over what the girl had said.

"So.. the only way you could have walked on water is if you knew the correct way to walk up a tree."

"Yeah."

"You didn't trip, slip, or fall until you were injured."

"Yeah."

"And that was why you wanted to leave, because you thought it would be a waste of time to relearn it."

"Yeah, already. Jeez..." Even as Ammy grumbled, Kakashi quickly came up with a plan that would benefit himself greatly.

"Well… Practice makes perfect." the jōnin said too cheerfully, dropping Ammy on her rear. "If you know so much, then you teach them. I will, on the other hand, accompany Tazuna to the bridge." Whistling, Kakashi left them there.

Ammy grumbled. She wanted to go to the bridge. "Screw you, you perverted scarecrow!" she shouted.

Turning, she realized that Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura were looking at her expectantly. It threw her off.

"Well... um. Okay! Believe it or not, this stupid exercise is actually very good. It not only fine tunes your chakra control, but it also increases your stamina. To walk up a tree, it actually takes a very small amount of chakra, but that chakra has to be all throughout the foot and very precise." Ammy said. She couldn't remember a time she hadn't been away for one of Iruka's chakra lectures, but she had re-taught the basics to herself with scrolls at the school library. "The foot's supposed to be the hardest place to gather chakra. So if a guy-" she glanced at Sakura. "or girl, you know, gets a good handle on this, they are supposed to be able to learn more difficult jutsu."

Sakura's eyes lit up. '_Maybe I will finally be able to perform that diagnostic jutsu for poisons!' _Sasuke looked intrigued, but only slightly. His back was still sore and his ego was bruised from his clumsy slide down the tree. Naruto shrugged, "Okay then _sensei."_

Ammy twitched. "Hey, this is really awkward for me. You'd best shut up and keep practicing," she yelled pointing at their kunai. "Just keep trying it."

Completely focused now, Sakura got all the way to the top on her second try. She sat in one of the upper branches and stuck out her tongue, forming the sign for victory with her two fingers. Naruto clapped as he returned to running up the tree. Sasuke frowned, looking at the gash in the tree. It was barely two inches above the first.

"Okay, Sakura-san!" Ammy yelled up to her, "Try building up your chakra by running up and down the tree!" She nodded, lifting herself off the branch and began her descent, which she found was a little harder. A soft scratching noise met Naruto's ears, making him turn his attention to Sasuke.

Five marks marred the tree, all several inches away from each other. '_Hmm… He's improving pretty quickly.' _Naruto thought. '_I guess it's time for me to speed this up.'_

The hours went by quickly, which Ammy spent giving out advice, making jokes, and catching Sakura when she exhausted all of her chakra.

"Sakura-san." Ammy said, helping her stand on her feet. She wisely kept her mouth shut about her fall. "You're tired. Walk around to cool down, then sit at your tree and rest for a while." She nodded, barely conscious. The girl exchanged brief good-byes with her team mates, getting a hearty return from Naruto and a grunt from Sasuke. Once Sakura had left, what had been a very noisy exercise suddenly became very quiet.

* * *

The sun dipped below the horizon. Ammy leaned against the tree she was supposed to be climbing, looking serene even as the increasing darkness threw shadows over her face. She titled her head to the side, watching Sasuke and Naruto continue to labor, neck in neck.

Naruto fell down once again. There were many more scratches on the tree reaching up to a good twenty feet, but that was barely half of the tree for both boys. Sasuke paused, trying to breathe.

'_He has better control than I do and more stamina than Sakura-chan.' _Naruto observed.

Sakura had just returned from her walk and was lying down at the base of her tree, exhausted and marveling at her teammate's stamina.

_'Naruto isn't getting anywhere,' _Sakura thought_, 'he should give up soon.'_

Naruto turned away from the tree angrily and started to walk away. _'I knew it. He's too easy to read… Huh?' _she thought as Naruto walked up to her.

"Umm, Sakura-chan?" he asked, "can you give me some tips?" Sakura just stared at him, then blushed a bit before explaining her methods.

* * *

Back where the other three were, Ammy was observing as Naruto and Sasuke were running up trees still. Naruto reached his limit and jumped back. He growled at Sasuke's continuing progress despite his renewed efforts. A moment later, Sasuke reached his limit and jumped between the two trees to slow his decent enough to avoid injury. On the way down, he saw Naruto's steady progress compared to his almost stopped progress. _'He's catching up!' _Sasuke thought.

_'Grrr!'_ Naruto growled in anger, then remembered what Sakura had told him. Clear his head, relax and focus. He did so and took a step forward to try again when-

"Hey Naruto!" Sasuke called, causing Naruto to fall on his face. "What is it?" Naruto yelled, "I'm trying to train here! Your eyes just for show?" Ammy smirked at the comment.

Sasuke looked nervous and just hummed and mumbled. "What?" Naruto said, _'Why is he so nervous?'_

"What did...Sakura tell...you?" Sasuke asked as he looked away.

A goofy smile spread across Naruto's face. "Secret," he said.

Ammy suddenly broke out in a grin. "Hey." Ammy rang out, her voice loud and piercing, although it was meant to be softer. "I gotta trick that helps you get into the rhythm of it." Sasuke gave Ammy a half hearted scowl.

"Another trick?" Naruto asked, a mischievous smile on his face.

Ammy started to grin.

Wary of the strange, giddy look on his friend's face, Sasuke stood straighter. "Alright. Show me." he said, crossing his arms over his chest. Ammy gave him a mock bow.

"As you wish…" Sasuke blinked, and suddenly Ammy was in front of him. The breath was knocked right out of him when Ammy nailed him in the stomach with her hard shoulder, proceeding to pick the taller boy up.

"Ammy!" Sasuke protested, not liking being carried around like a sack of potatoes. He was ignored, as Ammy was too occupied with climbing up the tree with such speed and carelessness that it made Sasuke's head spin. She didn't bend to gravity, slide down the tree and land hard on the unforgiving ground; instead, she kept going up the tree until they reached the highest branches.

Carefully, Ammy let Sasuke down on the thickest branch. Sasuke, finding his legs, smacked Ammy in the back of the head for not warning him in advance, and then had to grab the back of Ammy's sweater to keep her from flying off the branch.

"Hey! Watch it, asshole." Ammy said in a cranky voice. "I can get down from here. Can you?" Sasuke put his hands up in defense at the thinly veiled threat.

"Alright..." Ammy said, accepting Sasuke's retreat. "Oh, by the way… Naruto."

"Hm?"

"Heads up"

Ammy back-flipped from the branch she was sharing with Sasuke, landing on the occasional branch that got in her way before repeating the process, leaping repeatedly. In the span of the five seconds she took to reach the bottom, Naruto realized her earlier precaution. He braced himself, and without a moment to spare. She tackled him, knocking the wind out of him, and grabbed him around his torso. She spun, faced the tree again, and proceeded to run all the way up to the branch where Sasuke resided. From the look on Naruto's face, he was terrified.

"GOD DAMMIT AMMY!"

She chuckled. "Now, back to business. The reason why tree climbing so damn hard for you guys is 'cause you're trying to get your damn foot to become attracted to the damn tree so you'll stick, and let's be blunt here: There's no chemistry between the two." Sasuke smiled involuntarily. Ammy had an odd way of saying things "So, not only are you tryin' to force a relationship that is in the dumps, you're also tryin' to fight the big daddy, gravity. But but but!"

Ammy pointed a finger down to the earth below them. The two boys looked down at the ground, so far away from where he was right then. Feeling woozy, Sasuke backed away from the edge of the branch and toward the trunk. Naruto gulped. "Don't tell me…"

"Now we're up here, instead of down there." Ammy said slyly. Sasuke's eyes widened, knowing exactly what Ammy was going to pull. "The tree and your feet won't have such a hard time being friends if you don't have to fight gravity, right?"

Sasuke turned to Ammy, instinctively clinging to the trunk. "No no no…" he protested. Ammy grinned, peeling Velcro Sasuke from the trunk and pushing him off the branch.

"Bon voyage, mon ami! You're next Naruto!" Ammy said gleefully. She faintly heard Sasuke cursing her to hell, then realized that Sasuke wasn't as resilient as she herself was to taking damage. Sighing, she jumped off the branch on the trunk of the other tree and zoomed down, prepared catch him, or scrape any remains off the ground. Naruto watching from the above, paled. _'I knew it…'_

The first thing Sasuke did when he felt the surface beneath his feet disappear was try to cling to the tree with feet charged with chakra. He slowed down, but was still was going pretty fast. The first impact of his foot against the trunk made him wince, but the second was easier. Adrenaline and blood rushing in his ears, all he could hear was his quickened breaths and his own heart beat. For a second, running down the tree, the wind blowing through his hair, he realized he loved it.

The speed, the rush, the slight fear, the knowing that if he tripped, he could die. It was over too quickly. He found himself crouching on the ground after skidding on his knees, panting and trying to disguise the slight shuddering of his shoulders.

"See!" Ammy said proudly. "You ran down the entire tree! Isn't it better to go with gravity than to fight against it?" Her response was a clump of dirt thrown in her face. "Hey! Stop being mean!" she whined wiping the dirt of her face.

Sasuke stood slowly, which was when Ammy realized that Sasuke was pretty shaken up about being tossed off a branch nearly fifty feet away from the ground. For a moment, she felt bad. Worse than she had felt for a very long time. Sasuke wasn't like her. Just because she thought it was fun didn't mean that others would find it as enjoyable.

Then it disappeared in the uttering of one simple sentence from his friend/teammate. Sasuke looked over his shoulder, a faint smile on his lips. His knees were bloody from skidding on the ground at the end of his run. His face was dirty, sweaty, and a faintly flushed from all the exercise. His normally guarded eyes were open and filled with something Ammy would have described as enjoyment if she wasn't talking about Sasuke.

"Let's do that again."

* * *

Three days later, Team Seven was all done with the training exercise, although Kakashi advised them to keep up with it to increase their control and stamina. The jōnin was surprised when Ammy had called his bluff and taught Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke, and not only that, had been telling the truth when she said that he already knew how to scale trees with only her feet.

So when Ammy came up to him and said that they all knew the basics of tree climbing, he let them come with him to bridge, no questions asked. Kakashi owed Ammy that, for doubting her.

Wood, stone, plastic, nails. Everything that one needed to build a bridge was somewhat disorganized and placed randomly along the nearly completed bridge. Wood structures were created as a skeleton of the bridge and were later replaced by stone and cement, it being much sturdy than plain wood. Tazuna even had railings up on the sides of part of the completed bridge. He had somehow gotten his hands on a crane to complete the heavier jobs. Noticing Naruto's suddenly gleaming eyes fixated on the massive metal contraptrion, Tazuna immediately said the age limit for using it was eighteen and over.

For a moment, it seemed like the blond had forgot he was twelve, but when he remembered, he immediately started ranting that he handled dangerous things everyday and he was a responsible ninja. His argument would have been more impressive if he hadn't tripped over a wire and fallen into the water below.

The others had a good laugh at his expense, although Tazuna took pity on him and gave him a towel to dry off, after he swam the distance back to the shore.

The bridge was coming along well, Tazuna was proud to say. Although the wood that Tazuna barely had enough money to buy hadn't showed up yet, they were almost half way done with the 'Bridge of Dreams'. Or 'of Courage'. They were still arguing over what to call it.

Personally, he wanted to call it the 'Super Cool Bridge Tazuna Made!', but the others wouldn't go for it. Even his daughter gave him that look of 'what, are you nuts?'.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto's voice rang out in the silent morning air. Several pops of displaced air announced the arrival of Naruto's crew.

When the blond had noticed Tazuna's rapidly diminishing crew on the first day, he had asked the older man why less and less people were showing up for work.

Tazuna had replied soberly, "It is because they fear for their lives and the lives of their families." he had smiled, and clapped his hands together. "But I have you guys! So I'm going to continue making this country's lifeline!" Naruto had only watched Tazuna laboring under the weight of the cement that five or six men should have been carrying with him for just a moment before he started up with his shadow clones.

The coming along of the bridge went much faster with twenty Narutos, Ammy, one Tazuna, and a handful of villagers working. After day two, Sasuke and Sakura started to help out, both being stronger and faster than the villagers. Kakashi stayed on guard, good naturedly taking the jabs at his ego when Naruto told one of the workers that the jōnin was 'too old' to work.

Sitting on top of one of the large metal crates on the bridge on the third day, Kakashi kept a closer eye on Naruto than on possible appearances of Gatou's hired force. Despite the genin's attempts to hide it, it was clear that his strength was wavering and he was quickly becoming sick.

Kakashi knew what was wrong. It was a phenomenon that no medic or doctor could fully explain called Repetitive Jutsu Sickness. When a ninja used a single jutsu over and over again, he was bound to get a bit of a shock to his metabolism from his inner coils, which naturally resisted being used the same ways several times. Some got sick, some passed out, while others just got hungry. It depended on the person, their resistance to diseases and what they were trying to do.

Two days at the bridge and already Naruto was suffering from it. Then again, he performed Kage Bunshin no Jutsu once in the morning, made them go away during the break times then re-summoned them afterward, and refreshed the jutsu by making twice as many Narutos appear at the end of the work day so they could get the last minute things done quicker. Three breaks, once in the morning, once times two in the afternoon... Kakashi mentally calculated. And then times that by two… Oh, and add one for the batch he just made... Thirteen times he's made the shadow clones. He frowned, both surprised that Naruto didn't begin showing symptoms on the first day and worried that Naruto would pass out and end up dropping a two ton box on himself.

Even from a distance, the jōnin could tell that Naruto wasn't getting sick as people normally thought consisted of being sick, like sneezing and coughing and other various flu like symptoms. He was actually getting sick in the way that he was so tired that he could sleep for days on end. And that, on this mission especially, was extremely dangerous for a ninja.

He hopped off of the crate. "Naruto...s." a little hesitatingly, he made the name plural. Twenty heads looked up. "Finish what you are doing, and then come over here." The Narutos finished their duties quickly, handing off drills, powdered cement, and the works off to other workers. Quickly, and surprisingly silently, they surrounded them, identical looks of questioning confusion.

"Which one of you is the real Naruto?" Kakashi asked. He had lost the sight of the real one when the others had bustled around to finish their jobs. He really didn't expect them to know which Naruto was the real one, and decided he'd bop every other Naruto on the head until one said 'Ow.' But it didn't come to that.

After a pause, the blond who had been handling a drill stepped forward. Looking innocent, Kakashi beckoned the unsuspecting boy toward him. "I have to tell you something. It's a secret." Naruto walked over, still looking faintly confused.

Kakashi bent down and whispered in Naruto's ear. "You know... I think you should sleep." Naruto's eyes widened, but before he could pose a question, Kakashi had tapped a nerve in his neck, making him pass out. He caught his limp student before he got a mouthful of concrete. The boy was warm and hadn't exploded into smoke. So he was the real one...

"Hey! What the hell did you do that for!" the remaining Kage bunshins yelled. A bit surprised that they were still there (as it took massive amounts of pure skill and practice to keep a jutsu up when unconscious), he addressed their questions carefully.

"He's getting sick. I can hold off RJS from doing too much damage if I can cut down his usage of Kage bunshins." he expected blank stares but was once again surprised when they nodded seriously.

"I told him that he needed to take a break.." one of the Kage bunshins to the left said, shaking his head. Another shot him a glare worthy of the Hyuugas.

"Why the hell would he listen to you if he wasn't listening to himself!" the second one snapped. The first one lost his sage like countenance and fired up his temper.

"So frigging what! We are supposed to be his voices of reason, dammit!" he snapped, pouting in a very Naruto like way.

"We are him, stupid!" another one yelled.

"You wanna fight about it?" the first one said, grabbing the third one's vest. The third one reflected the gesture.

"Yeah, bring it on, sissy boy!" he said with a feral grin.

"Fine! Let's take this outside!" the first one snapped.

"We're already outside!" a fourth one shouted, one of the seven trying to tug the two battling Narutos away from each other.

"Then we'll take it inside!" the third one said, pushing the others off of him and lunging at the first. In five seconds, half of Naruto's kage bunshins were poofed out of existence. The remaining ten looked at Kakashi sheepishly.

"What the..." Sakura silently mouthed the word she wanted to say. Sasuke turned a smirk on his face. Ammy kneaded her temples and leaned against a crate.

"It seems like Naruto doesn't like himself." he said, finding that rather amusing. "Maybe he finally sees in himself what others see and don't like."

"Sasuke-kun..." Sakura said in a chastising voice. It was a wonder really, how she didn't jump in to insult Naruto as she would have before to impress Sasuke. It was only a small sign of her developing and more positive character. If she had seen the faint smile that Sasuke sent her way, she would have wondered why she had ever thought that insulting Naruto was the quickest way to the reserved Uchiha's heart.

"Or maybe he just likes picking fights..." Tazuna grumbled, although a faint twitch of the corner of his mouth gave away his amusement, both at the boy and the girls, and the many blonds hanging around.

Kakashi looked over the rest of the Kage bunshins, as amused as the rest of them. "So... How long will you guys last?" he asked, genuinely curious. If Naruto had been using the forbidden jōnin jutsu even as half as long as Kakashi thought he had, then he'd know how long his clones lasted, and thus, they would know.

They looked at each other, and then back at him. "Two hours, three maybe. Tops." the one in the middle said. "Us being around won't affect me... I mean...Naruto. We are independent of him." Kakashi expected that slip. The point of the jutsu was to confuse the enemy and make him confused about what enemy was his real enemy, but the reason why the jutsu was outlawed was because the clones and the ninja themselves rarely knew which one of them was the real them. Ninjas of more questionable character ended up having clones that were trying to assassinate themselves. It had gotten to be a real mess.

"But we are him." one said quietly, gently persuading. It was truly strange how one could see all the different aspects of a ninja's personality just by watching their clones.

"No, not really. Kinda like a... imprint, you know? His conscience, his morals, his thoughts and feelings..." another murmured, arms crossed over his chest.

"There's two differences between the real Naruto and us." the first one said carefully. His eyes shifted to Sasuke, Ammy, and Sakura. "We don't have organs in our body and have no body temperature, and..." he looked at Kakashi meaningfully. Another clones finished his hanging sentence.

"You know what the other difference is." the one on the far left said.

Kakashi nodded seriously, giving them the order to continue their working and ignored the questioning glances that Sakura and Sasuke gave him. Such strangely intelligent clones. Which, of course, means that their creator is as intelligent. Most Kage bunshins didn't know whether or not they were the real one, as the creator never really thought about the differences between a clone of shadow and a living human. Naruto, having the Kyuubi, would know whether or not he was the real thing because he'd feel the demon's presence if he was.

But for his clones to know that there was more than one difference between the fake and the real Naruto…either someone had pointed it out to him, or he was in a situation where he had figured it out on his own. This made Kakashi realize something important.

Over the last couple of weeks with his students, he felt, up till then, as if he had gotten a grasp of their characters. He knew Sasuke tended to be moody and quiet, but being in a group opened his personality up, especially with Naruto hounding him and firing up his temper. He knew Sakura tended to get a little crazy around Sasuke, but had become more subdued after they faced their first real ninja. Naruto hadn't changed too much from the first moment that the jōnin had met him, laughing at him in a classroom so long ago. Ammy had grown more somber, more serious, more quiet. Sasuke and Sakura both hated when it rained, the former probably having a bad memory connected to the rain, while Naruto and Ammy liked it, Naruto stubbornly insisting that it smelled so much nicer after it rained and Ammy saying that it was warmer after rain. Sakura like western foods, Sasuke liked traditional foods, Naruto liked anything to do with ramen and Ammy liked homemade meals, ice cream, and chocolate. Sasuke thought that the Elder Council were a bunch of old farts with more power than they knew what to do with(the other three agreed) and that more should be done about eliminating their (few) missing nins (Sakura and Naruto agreed, but Ammy opposed, saying that some missing nins were just too strong and would end up eating at their village's ninja resources, which ended up hitting a personal note and made Sasuke pissed.) Sakura liked red and pink, Naruto liked orange and black, Sasuke liked blue and black, and Ammy liked teal, green and black.

Even with all of their similarities and differences, somewhere in Kakashi's mind, they all were assigned a part, one he had, until just then, believed described their personalities.

The Fool, the Prodigy, and the Fan girl. Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade. Obito, Kakashi, and Rin. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. It was a never ending circle, always coming back to his old team. Ammy…she was the only one not of this equation, being a blur of different roles. But Naruto, who so enthusiastically said that his dream was to be acknowledged, wasn't Obito, who dreamed of beating Kakashi. Sakura, who loved Sasuke openly, wasn't Rin, who had loved Obito secretively. Sasuke, who wanted revenge, wasn't him, a guy desperately trying to cling on to the memories of the happier times of his tragic youth.

What he realized was that he just really didn't know them at all.

* * *

Several hours later, Tazuna called it an early day after his last worker left. After the kage bunshins disappeared, no work was really getting done. Still cheerful, as there was only a twenty foot gap between his bridge and the other end (which he had built much earlier), he waved off their apologies. But he had a question he was dying to ask, and was too afraid that he'd jinx the good luck they had been having. He asked anyway.

"Why are you guys still here?" he asked, sitting next to Sakura on Kakashi, who wanted to do some bizarre form of push ups with only one finger. "Even after you knew that I lied about the mission."

"Abandoning a duty because it wasn't going exactly how I planned is not something I practice, nor an attitude I wish to pass on to my students." Kakashi said, attention not straying from his task. "It is not morally right and is a clear sign of a coward. This was something our previous Hokage taught me."

"That is the way of the shinobi, the true shinobi. We don't move for money alone." Sakura said, kicking her feet lightly. Kakashi smiled.

"Yes. A ninja is a tool, but a ninja is still human." Kakashi looked up at Sasuke, who was sitting there and watching them. "How's Naruto?" he asked, stopping his exercise. Tazuna and Sakura got off of him.

"Sleeping like a baby." Sasuke said dryly. "He'll probably be like that for a week."

"I don't think so. Maybe a day," Ammy quipped.

Sakura smoothed out the wrinkles in her skirt. "Yeah, that's highly possible. Naruto and I talked a bit about his recovery rates while we were working on the bridge. It's fascinating."

"Recovery rate?" Tazuna asked, looking confused.

"Yeah. Naruto said it's kinda of like his own blood-line-limit. Didn't you see him after stabbing his hand? It didn't take very long for him to heal." Sasuke nodded, agreeing with Sakura. He had been a bit closer to Naruto than she was. He had been relived, awed, and jealous. If only his Sharingan would develop...

Sasuke wallowed in his envy, not realizing that what he was jealous of was merely a side effect of a curse that no one would want inflicted upon them.

'_A blood-line-limit?'_ Kakashi thought. _'Is that what he's calling it? Pretty clever.'_ Sakura went off into a lecture about blood lines and limits to Tazuna, who was interested in the subject.

Sasuke, for the most part, was silent, his elbows resting on his bent knees and his back to the wall. Deep in thought, he was only partially aware of the door sliding open across the room, next to Ammy. His eyes shifted toward the new comer when the bridge builder called out his name.

"Inari!" the old man said with a warm smile. "Where have you been hiding?" Inari stared back at him, eyes blank and cold. Tazuna's enthusiasm dwindled under the boy's frosty stare.

"I don't understand you." the boy said in a carefully controlled voice. "Everyone has gotten it in their heads that going up against that man is suicidal... but you still continue on. Are you just senile, or stupid?" Tsunami had walked in through the other door and gasped at her son. Tazuna looked down at his hands, his shoulders slumped. Sakura bit her lip. "You all… are pathetic." he spat, turning to leave.

The doorway was suddenly blocked by a leg in front of him, before he had a chance to cross the threshold. He glared at Ammy, who was leaning against the wall, her leg extended and resting on the opposite side of the door frame, blocking him from access. He ducked below her leg and tried to slither his way underneath as quickly as he could, only to have her leg drop on his back, knocking him to the floor. She placed her foot squarely on his back and held him down.

"So he speaks." Ammy drawled, fixing the boy with a cold stare not unlike the one Inari had thrown at Tazuna.

"Get off of me." Inari growled straining against her foot to no avail. Truly, he was fearful of the quieter kunoichi almost as much as the somber dark haired boy, so unlike her more light and bubbly team mates, but he didn't let it show on his face. "You're just hired help. This is my house. You have no right."

Ammy's head tilted to the side, inviting the challenge. "Not entirely true…" she said in that same nonchalant, yet piercing tone. She had caught on to Inari's fear. Her voice darkened, her hand twitched as if it longed for a blade. "I'm hired help… who can kill you."

"Ammy." Kakashi said sharply, the unmistakable command to let it go. Like the angered girl she was, Ammy ignored it.

"You throw your hateful barbs at your family. You try to make your cowardly nature seem less visible by getting off on their pain, their retreats. You act so big and macho because you can boss your family around. You are as much of a coward as Gatou is, who uses his hired guns to intimidate people, then has the gall to pretend that it was by his hand that this country is falling down on their knees and begging for mercy." Ammy said, every negative word drawn out. She pointed to Tazuna. "You want to see courage? Look at your grandfather, whom you so hatefully detest, if one was to interpret your words literally. He is the one fighting Gatou, maybe not with weapons, but with his bridge. He is the only one who continues to stick by his dream for this country. He is not the one trying to foster off his own guilt and pain on to someone else. He isn't you. He isn't a stupid brat who assumes he knows everything about anything."

Inari seethed, his hands clenching into fists. Ammy waved a hand at him, a gesture she herself vaguely remembered her mother doing when she wished to be left alone. "You only have one family, if you're lucky, some grandparents and siblings. You may cry about the loss of your step father, but the loss of the rest of your family would only make that sorrow all the more strong. So don't waste the time you have being a brat."

Ammy pulled her foot from Inari's back and watched as the boy stood up, pissed off, embarrassed, and trying to suppress tears. He knew Ammy's harsh words were true; he stormed out the other door. The eyes that followed his exit swung over to Ammy.

Ammy's head tilted down, her face hidden by her bangs and the shadows. Long nails dug in the palms of her hands, balled into fists at her sides. She was angry at Inari's blindness. '_If I could have just one more day with my family,' _she thought,_ 'I would appreciate every second of it. There would be no harsh words, there would be no hate, only the bonds of a family. You never really know what you have until it is taken from you.'_

An image of her family flashed in his mind. Her brother and mother always looked so stern, while her father was more passive and open. He'd smile at her and ruffle her hair, asking in that gentle voice of his how her day was. Her mother would glance at Ammy out of the corner of her eyes with a slight smile on her face, as she often seemed to do before turning her attention to more important work. Her brother, Yoshiki, would turn, bright eyes and face so much like his father's, but a small smile that seemed almost unnatural on the normally impassive face, but was there because Yoshiki made an effort for her. An effort to be the brother that Ammy wanted and wanted to overcome. But now, she had to let go. She knew the truth. She didn't want revenge and hatred to overwhelm her life. There's a saying, 'If you follow the path of revenge, you will have to dig two graves.'

Little did she know, Sasuke had fallen into the path she sought to avoid. His brother was now the person that Sasuke had to kill, had to overcome.

'_Damn you, Itachi. Why? What did Father do that pissed you off? Was it because the clan was growing more isolated from the village? Was it because you believed us to be too weak?_' He closed his eyes, taking a deep, relaxing breath, and then looked toward Ammy. _'I wonder why she seems so gloomy…Is...is she like me?'_

She looked up, in full control of herself and glanced apologetically at Tazuna and Tsunami.

"My apologies. I'm going to train." she said in a subdued voice. She pushed herself up. Quiet for a moment while she reigned in her emotions, she slid open the door. "It bothers me, to say the least, when I see someone with so much throwing it all away. I don't want to see another person feel the way I did." She left without a sound.

Kakashi fisted his hand, and then reopened it, looking at his gloved palm. _'I'm almost back to normal, I'm ready for Zabuza. But... are my students ready?'_

**End Chapter 5**

**Ah. Filler chapters. Again. Gotta love them. =3 Thank you to my sole reviewer**

**Akashi Ookami**

**Kudos and hugs to you. Hehe. **

**Well, later dudes and dudettes, but I'm going to sleep (*cough* work on the next chapter*cough-cough*)**

**Reviews are like the on button to my inspiration fountain. And lately, it's been running dry...**


	6. Chapter 6: So it Begins

**Good afternoon, my dear readers! I'm soooo sorry for the delay, I had came across the problem that all fanfiction writers come across eventually... Crashed computers. Yes, the horrors of a laptop or computer resets on you as you narrow the distance to the finale of a chapter... The torment you feel when you have to restart from scratch... So yeah xD **

**A quick reminder... You guys should check my profile ever so often seeing that I often change thins on there. I have Update dates planned most of the time, and sometimes I draw some stuff that I deem appropriate for the O.C. and her abilities. But i'm serious. Update dates are seriously prone to change. So check alright? **

**After all this, I'll return to my loose chapter-every-two-weeks schedule. Key word. LOOSE. Enjoy the chapter guys xD**

**Chapter 6: It Has Begun…**

Not far from the village, a mist nin mediated quietly, waiting for his student to arrive. When the biting cold of the evening air once again made him want to shiver, he cursed. He hated Wave Country. Well, that really wasn't saving much. He hated nearly everything, but there was just something about stuff that was cold that bugged him.

Only one thing good had come from his experiences with cold, and that was Haku.

"Zabuza-san." the boy was nearly silent in his approach, something that Zabuza himself was proud of. Why, just a few years ago, he had been a little, sad eyed brat on the side of the road with a collar around his neck. Now he was a deadly ninja.

Just the image of Haku being collared like a common dog royally pissed him off. Such a waste of ability, a discarded item that Zabuza had picked up, polished off, and let loose on the world. After all, they did say 'One man's trash is another man's treasure'.

"We will attack in the morning." Zabuza said firmly. "You have three hours to find, capture, and isolate Kakashi's brats. After that, you will report to me. Then we will take on Kakashi and finish our mission."

"And Kakashi's position in the late morning?" Haku asked, not recalling any moment in time where they had the chance to learn the jōnin's schedule. He, being the quietest and best at stealth, would have been sent out. Gatō must have not thought that he could trust Haku anymore. Such excellent observation shouldn't go unrewarded. Haku thought darkly, remembering how easily the businessman's bone had crunched together in his hand. It was all too clear that Gatō was using Zabuza and wasn't going to back up his side of the deal, and the mist devil seemed to know that. So Haku bowed his head in defeat. What his precious person wanted was what he was determined to make sure his precious person got.

"Those hired blades were good for something after all." Zabuza said in explanation for Haku's unasked question. He was surprised that the two samurai weren't caught by the skillful ninja from Konoha, but then again, the village was very poor. It was most likely that they paid someone from the village to give them information about Kakashi. "He will be guarding Tazuna at the bridge, as he has been doing for the last couple of days now."

Haku nodded mutely, already thinking of how to isolate the genin. The green-eyed girl would be easy, the boy with dark hair a little harder, and the blonde boy even more difficult, but who would be most difficult would be the girl with the fire jutsu. It was a well known fact that ice was easily defeated by fire. The girl had shown remarkable speed as well. Haku would have to be much quicker and would simply have to attempt to overwhelm the girl with his own speed.

"Haku." Zabuza's voice stirred him out of his thoughts. His mentor looked very serious. "Remember what you must do if they escape." Haku bit his lip, for once thankful that his slightly uncomfortable mask hid his face, thus his emotion. He remembered all too well, the fate of what was to come of the escaped genin(s). Which only made him all that more determined to make sure that they didn't get free.

"Yes... Zabuza-san."

xxxxxxx

The next morning, Naruto awoke, feeling as good as new. He refrained from tackling Sasuke awake, his much preferred way of saying good morning; choosing to instead look outside at the sun light that shyly peeked through the quickly approaching clouds. He stretched, and then stood.

'_The air is heavy and it is not of coming rain.' _Naruto thought, tying his forehead protector around his head.

'_Nature, she is an immortal being, untouched by time herself, wounded only by those too careless to take care of her._' Naruto reached down, attaching his kunai and shuriken holders to their respective places.

Feeling tense and a little bit gloomy, Naruto wanted to cheer himself up. Naruto smiled, having nothing against doing it. He leaned out the window after opening it, grabbed a bucket from outside, and made a quick detour to the bathroom...

"AHHH! NARUTO!"

And thus the rest of the household was rudely woken up at the sound of Sasuke yelling. Tazuna, the only one awake enough to witness the event, watched as a soaked and thoroughly pissed off Sasuke chase a laughing Naruto outside, looking murderous.

Several crashes and random chaos later, Kakashi gave his team some errands to complete, in an attempt to give them a bit of a holiday off of working on the bridge. Naruto was to go buy some food for the next week with Ammy making sure that he bought actual food, Sasuke was to get some fish from a local stream, and Sakura was to go search for some cooking herbs. Kakashi must have noticed Tsunami's struggles to not only feed her family, but also Team Seven.

"And you can get some ramen, but remember that not all of us are as big of fans of it like you are." Kakashi said, pushing Naruto along. Naruto scowled, pocketing the money that the jōnin had shoved in his hand.

"Uh uh uh. Give me the money. I don't trust you with that Naru."

"Yeah yeah, whatever." the blond said, blushing at the nickname. They walked toward the nearest store in the heart of the village. The rebelling look on his face started to crumble, and eventually dropped at the sight of such poverty. People slept on the streets, women and children begged. All people alike stole from one another. Ammy averted her eyes. '_I want to help these people. They lived like I did after being kicked out...I was only in the streets for a few months though…These people have been here their whole lives.'_

Instead of letting the sadness overwhelm them, the duo only got more determined to see the building of the bridge through. He strode purposely into the store, noticing that they barely had anything in stock. Ammy paid for what he came for, pretending not to notice she gave the store keeper more money than she was supposed to.

He saw something out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned to face it, it had disappeared. "Huh... Am I being followed?" He questioned, and then brightened. "I'm important enough to be followed! YES!" Naruto cheered discretely. "I'm being stalked!"

"Since when has being followed been a good thing? Idiot." Ammy replied, a bland look graced her face.

When Naruto ran into a small, dirty looking girl, he broke up one of the loaves of bread that he bought and gave some to her and her four little brothers that slunk behind her. She took his hand and shook it, far too mature and tired for a six year old, then dragged him and Ammy off to meet her mother. Naruto juggled the groceries with one hand, then tied the bags together and slung it over one shoulder gently when they came to a stop, both shinobi promptly forgetting about this would be stalker.

"Mommy!" she said, her small hand nearly engulfed by Naruto's. "Mommy, I want you to meet our new friend, Naruto-kun and Ammy-san!"

The woman behind the jewelry stand smiled tiredly at her daughter, then looked up at him. "Not from around here, are you, kids?" she said in the subtle Wave Country drawl. One of the little girl's brothers grabbed her doll from her frayed pocket and ran. The girl ran after him, half yelling, half laughing.

"How could you tell?" Naruto said, his normally loud voice subdued.

"You aren't hardly as skinny as the rest of us and you have a rather unusual appearance. We don't have very many blue eyed people in this here country." she said, with a bit of an impish grin on her face. "Don't get too many foreigners here. All in Wave Country have been here for at least three generations. People got no reason to move here, for there's no profit."

"Hmm." Naruto murmured, looking around. "A lot of people here do look alike."

"Yep." she said. "One way or another, most of us are related to one another, that's why we don't get too angry if one of our own does something bad. We're family…but it's a dog eat dog world, you know. We gotta survive. Aw, come now. You shouldn't get that look on your face. The last thing we need is pity. It didn't used to be as bad."

Naruto not being able to conceal his pity, looked down. Ammy asked gently, as a downcast expression darkened her eyes, "How so?"

"Well, our men worked the coast, getting food resources from there, worked the north, getting lumber from there, and the such. Then Gatō came about, at first like an interested gentleman. Poked his head here and there. Funded a few things. Before we know it, he has us wrapped around his little finger. We can't survive without him. He has all of our boys working for him here and there, keeping them isolated from his little takeover of their country. Smart bastard that he is. All that is left to oppose him are us women, our old and wounded men, and our children." She paused for a moment, making a rare sell with a girl a little better off than her. She bowed to her customer, then turned back to Naruto. "I really admire Tazuna. He's a genius, but he has a back problem. Yet he still labors on, day after day, trying to move our country onto a route that will lead to our well being, not to a dictatorship. But we cannot help him. It breaks my heart to watch him walk out to the bridge every day, knowing he'll encounter less and less of his crew and more and more enemies trying to steal his dream, his life, and his pride away from him."

The two were quiet for a moment, Naruto fiddling with his hands. He knew it, he knew that all, he really did. But it was so much more meaningful to hear someone else say it.

"But enough with that sad talk. My name is Hana." she bowed. "It is very nice to meet you, Naruto-san, Ammy-san."

"Yes." Naruto said, for once in his life, bowing back. Ammy bowed slowly and cleared her throat wanting to change the subject.

"So, what's with this stand?" Hana looked down, a smile of pride on her face.

"Well, some of the mothers, myself included, have formed a partnership. This stand sells what some of us make or what some of us have that we do not wish to keep anymore." she said, gesturing to the various trinkets on the surface. Naruto shifted to the front of the stand, looking over the merchandise. Some items were very nice indeed. Ammy glanced longingly at a small bracelet with black glass beads and two necklaces with strange glass pendants.

"You... interested in jewelry, Naruto-san?" Hana asked in a teasing voice. Naruto grinned at her good naturedly.

"Nah. I know girls who may be though." He had no intention of buying Sakura a present to capture her affections, or anything stupid like that (been there, done that), but maybe he could buy something for her, and then blackmail Sasuke into giving it to her. Ah, now wouldn't that be fun... And maybe he could buy Ammy the stuff she'd been eyeing…

His eyes focused on something black near the back of the table. He picked it up, feeling smooth leather and something much harder underneath. "What's this?" he asked, curious. It was a bit heavy and as long as his wrist to his elbow.

"Oh, that!" Hana said, looking at it a bit closer. "Um.. actually, I don't know." Naruto stretched it out to its full length. Ammy grabbed it from him, and then on a hunch, slid one hand through the opening on one end, watching as it came out the other.

"Was one of your lady friends a daughter or a descendant of a ninja?" Ammy asked, finally recognizing it for what it was. It was like the white and blue arm things that Sasuke wore, only better, as the leather and the metal inside of it (iron or steel? She couldn't tell by feel alone) protected the arm, from the elbow down to the wrist. Hana shrugged. She experimented with the ties near the end, finding that one could slip a thin knife between the leather and skin and no one would know the difference.

"Hey, how much you think this would cost?" Hana named a price, only to have Ammy roll her eyes. "Come on!" Hesitatingly, she lowered it. Ammy rolled her eyes again. She could buy a ice cream cone for the price Hana was asking. "Ugh. Fine, how about…" the price she threw out had Hana's eyes widening, as Ammy casually dug the exact amount from her lovely leather wallet. Hana immediately put her hands up, not wanting to take so much money from them. Naruto insisted , and offered to split the money with Ammy so it wouldn't feel like Hana was taking too much money from them, but they ended up walking away with not only the arm things they were ogling, but also four very nicely crafted necklaces and the bracelet. When Naruto complained he was not in the practice of wearing necklaces, Hana grinned and made a couple suggestions that made his face flame up and ears burn red.

Keh, like he had a girl he could woo…

Naruto left after Hana reminded him that his groceries would spoil if he stayed any longer, slipping his own purchases in his vest pockets. He waved goodbye to the children, who all looked very pleased with themselves, a look that Naruto recognized from his youth when he used to do pranking as his main source of entertainment. He turned to Ammy.

"Hey Ammy-chan, here's that bracelet that you kept staring at."

Ammy's ears turned pink. "Hehehe. Can't seem to get anything by you, huh? I thought that was for Sakura or something…"

"Nope!" Naruto grinned.

"…You're the best!" Ammy grinned as she hugged Naruto. "But…. I'm not gonna…I'm not gonna wear it now… we're in the middle of the mission… Don't want it to break in a badass fight of awesomeness, right?"

"Whatever you want to do with it Ammy-chan," Naruto said, mirroring her grin. '_She stuttered. I never thought that I'd never see the day!'_

Suddenly, he remembered being followed in the village square. It all came back to him when he saw a certain masked figure mingling in with the crowd. With every shift of the crowd, the boy seemed to move with it, yet stay absolutely still at the same time. His teammate's eyes narrowed. She saw it, too. They shared a glance. Naruto and Ammy ran after the figure, not sure if what they were following was genjutsu or a clone, but sure it was in the village because of them.

Panting, yet still somehow carrying the groceries, the two followed the elusive figure to the outside of the village. On a slight incline of the earth, Haku stood sideways, carrying along his own extra weight on his hidden side.

"Fake hunter-san." Ammy said in a steely, calm tone. The boy nodded.

"Kasai, Uzumaki." the genin nodded.

"You…You know our names?"

Then the nin turned, nodded, and showed the duo what he was holding tucked under his arm.

His hat missing and his dark hair sticking every which way, Inari stared back at Naruto, twin streaks of fallen tears marking a path down his pale face. His lower lip trembled, and his eyes watered.

Naruto saw red. The only sound that was heard from the genin was the dull thud of the groceries hitting the ground and a low, animalistic growl that was ripped from his throat. The hunter-nin turned away and ran into the woods, only pausing long enough to make sure that his message had been made clear. A gloved hand clamped onto Naruto's shoulder.

"Bring the groceries back Naruto. I'll take care of this…I hope. I feel like something is going to happen. Look for Sasuke and Sakura. If you find them, help them and go to the bridge to check for me when you're done. Hope you still have that storage tag." She shoved her pile of the groceries into the blonde's arms as she fell into a slight stance.

Naruto growled in frustration, "…I hope that speed training worked out for you Ammy… Good luck." He grabbed the dropped groceries up and headed back.

Ammy nodded as she spun around and dashed towards where the Hunter-nin had vanished. She sighed as she took on a stance and flashed through hand seals.

"Taijū fūji rirīsu: 1!" she growled as she blurred out of sight.

Xxxxxxx

"Hmm…" Kakashi murmured, his one visible eye wandering around the partially built bridge. It seemed so quiet without his team around. "Something is... off."

Tazuna frowned, and then started to tinker around, making sure nothing was stolen. Kakashi leapt on top of one of the large metal crates, looking around from an aerial point of view. No matter how fast he moved, the strange feeling of someone watching him would not go away. He paused, looking at the faint imprint of a foot on top of the dusty crates. Kakashi knelt, measuring the foot with his fingers. It wasn't his size.

"K-Kakashi." Tazuna's voice rang out in the silence. The jōnin hurried to the man's side. The bridge builder pointed in awed shock at what had been the crane. It was bent out of shape, as if a large hand had crunched it together. The inner compartment where one would control the machine was no more, crushed and twisted together cruelly.

"What could have done this?" Tazuna whispered. Kakashi took out a kunai, his dark eye sweeping across the suddenly ominous shadows. Mist came out of nowhere, darkening the bridge. The jōnin swept up his forehead protector, baring his Sharingan to the air.

"Not what. Who." the ninja from Konoha said grimly. Out of the darkness, shattering the silence, someone laughed a cruel laugh.

Xxxxxxx

The rhythmic movements of jumping from branch to branch allowed Ammy to keep her mind devoid of emotion. Ammy started to think more with full and complete thoughts instead of half jumbled up ones brought on by her anger. But she still felt guilty.

Tsunami trusted her to make sure Inari was safe! Although she knew that Hunter wouldn't harm the boy, the terrified look on Inari's face shot right to Ammy's heart.

Inari was just a kid. He shouldn't have been mixed up in that sort of situation.

The mist hunter-nin was deliberately running so that Ammy could see him, realized that she was catching up. Haku had been surprised and used one of his ice mirrors to teleport away, and then the chase started again. Using the jutsu twice and even three times in a row was really depleting his stamina and making that overwhelming tiredness that wrapped around his entire being return, so he stuck with full out running.

Ammy boosted her speed with chakra running even faster than before. Her sudden boost in speed made her vision blur before adjusting. That was her first mistake. She never saw, nor noticed Haku making hand seals with his left hand.

Haku jumped to the ground when trees became rarer and the vegetation decreased. Ammy followed, landing gently on the ground like a cat on the rocks. Haku still kept running and, so did Ammy.

"Hunter!" Ammy shrieked. Her voice echoed off of the rock formations around them. Haku looked back briefly, and then jumped thirty yards on the other side of a small hole in the ground, his hand briefly pointing downwards and glowing with blue chakra. Seeing no reason why the boy leapt over so much ground to get by the hole, Ammy made her second mistake by not following the boy's example and continuing to run.

The ground, so firm and rough before, suddenly became slick and unforgiving. Losing her balance, Ammy fell on something cold, her momentum still carrying him to the hole. Unable to find her balance, Ammy slid right into it.

Her third mistake was had everything to do with her reflexes.

Ammy stuck her feet against the side of the hole, trying to grasp it with her chakra, but failed when the chemistry failed to ignite_. 'Crap! The chakra in the ice is keeping my chakra from connecting!'_ Still falling, she rolled against the steep slope of the hole until she hit the bottom of the hole with a resounding thud.

"F-fuck…" Ammy cursed, feeling blood seep through the minor cuts and scrapes she endured. "Urk…. Kaen Shūfuku," she grunted as her white chakra flared, making her blood feel like liquid fire. As was the norm, the chakra immediately started to work on the more serious of injuries before moving to the ones that actually bothered her.

Seeing a faint glow around her right arm, she blinked in surprise. She had no idea that her arm was injured. '_Well, they always say that paper cuts hurt the worst._' She thought with a half hearted smile, and then cursed when she tried to move it. '_Oh, there it is._' The blinding hot pain that assaulted her mind was enough for him to reassess her previous thought. . _'Ah, bloodlines…And healing techniques…'_

Ammy kept mumbling vile words under her breath, directing it at everybody and anybody that came to mind. "Stupid old monkey ass... Stupid whore of a blonde… Stupid mask wearing pervert… Stupid kiss stealing emo..."

She sighed. "People don't die of sprained wrists. People don't die of sprained wrists. People don't die of sprained wrists. People don't die of sprained wrists," she muttered to herself.

She winced, realizing she must really be a baby when it comes to pain.

"Hey."

Ammy looked up, squinting when the sun hit her eyes. Haku crouched down, his mask giving away nothing.

"What the hell do you want?" Ammy asked, her voice weary. She griped her wrist, stood… then fell flat on her rear once more. "What the... ice!" A hard coating of ice was what kept her from regaining her balance. It was on the walls, the bottom of the hole, and must have been on the slickened ground that he slid on. Making the best of his situation, she rested her wrist against the ice in hopes of numbing it.

"This trap was best for you." Haku's soft voice drifted down to Ammy. The mist Nin was leaning over the edge of the hole. "If the other three fell in this trap, they might have died. Guess you were lucky."

Ammy laughed dryly, slowly getting to her feet. She made no sudden movements, as they might make her loose her balance. "You know me. I bounce right back up."

Haku smiled beneath his mask. Ammy couldn't explain how she knew that the boy of ice did, she just knew. "I wasn't going to hurt him."

"I was aware of that." Ammy said, rotating her shoulder. Now if she could just find a way to launch himself up with chakra without slipping again, she'd be just fine.

"Then why did you follow if you were aware that he was merely bait?" Haku asked, genuinely curious. He couldn't see the benefit of letting yourself be captured.

"I just love the thrill of the chase." Ammy said sarcastically.

With a pop, her wrist was fully healed. She sighed in relief as she cut her chakra flow. It seemed that she would need an abundance of it for where this was going.

Haku accepted his answer. "Spoken like a hunter. Then I apologize for making it end so quickly." he disappeared for a moment, then returned with a large boulder in tow. Ammy's jaw dropped.

"Hey! The rock looks really heavy… Almost too heavy…. How the hell are you CARRYING it?"

Haku laughed, he couldn't help it. Ammy sounded like a spoiled child.

"Surely you jest.. I am a ninja, just like you." he put the boulder to the side, and then pushed it over the hole. Only a small space between the rock and the earth served as Ammy's source for air and light. A shadow passed over the hole when Haku looked through it. "I have no desire to kill someone so young. Please, remain here until my mission is over, then I shall set you free."

"Like hell." Ammy said, glaring at him. "I have no desire to kill you either, but there's no way I'm staying in here while my friends are in danger. Can't we make some sort of compromise?"

Haku shook his head, his voice full of regret. "I am sorry, but we cannot. Your other two friends, the girl with the green eyes, the blonde boy, and that dark boy will be isolated as you are, so do not fret about their fates."

"They aren't my only friends who are involved with this." she waited a beat, digesting what Haku said. "Wait a sec... how the hell do you know what color eyes Sakura-san has!"

Coughing in slight embarrassment, Haku dodged that question and once again apologized. He left with a warning. "I shall take your child friend back to his home after he no longer serves a purpose, but hear me out, if you escape your prison and interfere with Zabuza-san's battle, I will kill you." Ammy didn't answer. She focused her pure chakra to the back of her throat. She let out a narrow, yet powerful stream of white-hot-flame, through the hole where Haku was situated. Haku leapt back, as he paled behind his singed mask._ 'That was a good call on my part for putting her in this trap. The other one would have been opened by THAT long enough for her to escape easily.'_ Haku spun and vanished with Inari still in tow.

Ammy cut her chakra flow. She cringed. The little ice she had unintentionally melted had reformed back from water. '_There's too much chakra in the ice! This…Hmmmmm….Maybe…If I added more chakra and continued the stream of fire longer, and maybe a bit wider….Maybe, just maybe I'll make it out…I…This is going to use up so much chakra…' _She slipped her hand into her pocket and rummaged about, withdrawing a small bottle of pills_. 'Hmmmm…I have eight pills, but I can risk taking only four or else I'll get soldier pill poisoning… I'll take one later.'_

Her hands fisted, the nails digging into her palms with her barely suppressed annoyance. _'The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, Haku. Why do you guys keep following Gatōu's orders? The road he is leading you down will only end in sorrow and pain.'_ Ammy looked up, her eyes determined. '_But one thing's for sure: There's no way I'm staying in here. I'll find a way and even save your ass, no matter how dirty you play!'_

Xxxxxxx

Knee deep in the chilly water of the nearby stream, Sasuke straightened, throwing a medium sized fish to the shore to wiggle and pant along with its fellow fish. Taking pity on them, Sakura swiftly killed them.

It was nice, he supposed. Before, being around Sakura always made him feel nervous, but now that he actually knew her and grudgingly called her a good friend, it felt right. Being alone wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and Sakura was a quiet balm to his loneliness that had nothing to do with being shoved out of trees or being woke up at the crack of dawn when your room mate douses you with ice cold water.

Naruto was a good friend in his own right, like a brother almost. They were rivals, they were comrades, and they were friends. Best friends even. Naruto would prank him, and he would retaliate by punching him in his face, albeit not too hard. But he remembered that there were more pranks when they were both in the academy. Something had changed from the day they were classmates, and the day that they became a team, and he didn't know what it was. He couldn't tell if he liked this slightly mellower and more observant Naruto more, or missed his incessant pranking, and loudmouthed blabbering.

Ammy…Ammy was different. When she talked to him at the academy, she teased him, the way Naruto did, and was the only girl that spoke to him that didn't care about his looks or his 'coolness' or some pathetic stuff like that. Of course she didn't! They met for the first time in class and he ended up with a book in his face and all the boys there snickering at his expense. To say that took a bit of his pride and ego down was an understatement. She intrigued him. She was so different, but so similar to him. She had suffered his pain, and loss. She had no family left, but she was not vengeful. On the contrary, she seemed to almost forget the whole incident, though she did mourn still. She seemed…regretful, and that piqued his interest in the kunoichi. Sasuke wondered what had made her like that. Why?

"Why aren't you doing your errand?" Sasuke asked, looking at her over his shoulder. Sakura looked up, happy that he acknowledged her presence. She lifted up the bag she had slung over her shoulder. The sweet and strong smell of many herbs slipped through the opening of the bag.

"Already did it." Sakura said with a grin, de-scaling and gutting the fish. Her nose wrinkled in distaste at the feel and scent of the fish's blood. '_Well, we gotta eat to live_.'

Sasuke watched for a moment, and then was brought back to his task when he felt a soft caress of scales against his shin. Three fishes later, Sasuke's own bag was filled with the edible parts of the fish and cooled with a weak ice jutsu to keep it from spoiling. He walked out of the stream, briefly pausing to rub feeling back into his legs.

In reluctant awe of her skills, he stopped just in front of her, watching her finalize the jutsu. His eyes started burning, but not in an unpleasant way. He watched her hands, strangely finding it easier to remember the hand seals and tuck them away in his mind. His Sharingan faded away before Sakura looked up.

"Is that some sort of thing all women instinctively know, or was it taught to you?" Sasuke was unaware that he had spoken aloud until Sakura grinned. She slung the strap of the bag over his shoulder and answered.

"Nah, it's a learned thing. While you boys were learning how to throw kunai and how to do taijutsu, the rest of the girls were taught a bit of flower arranging, cooking, cleaning, and that sort of thing."

Feeling curious and in no way related to or being a cat, he pressed for more answers. "Why?"

Sakura shrugged. "Maybe for if we were later uncover in a foreign territory as a housewife, we actually know enough about it in order to not blow our cover. Or at least, that's what Ino thought it was for. My personal theory..." she paused, adjusting the strap on his shoulder so it wouldn't tug at his skin. Her voice became lower. "My personal theory is that since the turn out of kunoichi verses ninja was 1 to 2, the Academy would want to make sure that the kunoichi who didn't make it had the skills to survive as a normal person." She turned away from him, cleaning up the rock that she used as a cutting surface. When she was done, she looked at him, faintly surprised that he had waited for her.

Sasuke jerked his head towards the trail that would take them back to the village, clearly wanting to go. Sakura went back on the trail, Sasuke silently falling in step with her.

After a moment, Sasuke spoke. "Why is that?" Sakura looked at him, her eyes questioning. He explained what he meant. "Why do fewer kunoichi come out of the Academy than ninjas?" Every female ninja he had met up with was strong in their own way. Sakura and her chakra control, and almost photographic memory. Tenten and her expertise with weapons. Hinata and her Byakugan and jyῡken. Ino and her blood limit. Ammy with her kenjutsu, speed, and tactical thinking. In their own ways, the five kunoichi were stronger than their own team mates.

Sakura sighed. "To name a few... some of us give up, some of us aren't strong enough. Some of us would rather play with flowers than with kunai. Some of us died during the simple process of seeking out our chakra for the very first time. Our bodies are, to put it simply, weaker than yours. The kunoichi you see in active duty are the strongest. They were the only ones who could endure." she smiled faintly, thinking back on fonder memories of her friendship with Ino. "Only the ones, who not only had the strength to become a kunoichi, but also the will and determination to do so, have passed the Academy final exam. Next year, they will try to become genin again because it's what they really, truly believe is their path in life. I am not sure if the ratio is a fixed thing, but it is how it is.

Kunoichi who wear the head protector have been through hell. The girls have been taught many things that the boys have not. It is to keep them alive in a business that they aren't not very well equipped for."

Sasuke made a rude noise in the back of his throat, a smirk on his face. "Yeah, maybe. But my theory is that it's a quantity over quality thing. Girls are more important, with reproduction and everything, so the Academy makes sure that only the best can pass. Guys aren't as important so they let anyone pass. Like Naruto and that lazy bum Shikamaru." Sakura laughed.

"Yeah, I was pretty surprised that Naruto passed, having the lowest score in the class and all. Did you see his attempt at bunshins or henges? They were horrible!" Sakura said, shaking her head. Sasuke shrugged.

"But that shows you how dumb it is to test a guy just on the basics."

"Yeah. Noticed how he changed?... Maybe Naruto is…secretly some genius?" They looked at each other, both thinking it over. At the same time, the notion of the silly prankster with a bad ass attitude and Sexy no Jutsu under his sleeves being on the same level as Einstein struck them hard with hilarity.

Realizing how rare it was to hear Sasuke laugh, Sakura cherished it and stored the memory along with Sasuke's rare smiles and happy looks. They were mostly quiet the rest of the way back, both deep in their own thoughts.

The silence was broken when a shrill sob and then a tearful whimper reached their ears. Sakura paused in mid step.

"What was that?" she whispered. Sasuke said nothing, his only response was his hand slowly creeping down to his leg for his kunai. She walked off the path, cautiously following the noises. Exasperated that she was leaving, Sasuke had no choice but to follow her.

Sakura took careful steps through the thick foliage, making sure that there wasn't any traps on the ground. Sasuke shadowed her steps, feeling that burning sensation behind his eyes again.

A shack, half covered with vines and moss and in horrible shape, stood in their way. The source of the mournful cries was sitting in the doorway, looking distressed.

"Inari?" Sakura whispered, looking shocked. The boy's head, previously buried in his knees, shot up.

"N-no! Go away before he gets you!" he said, waving his hands. It was too late. Senbon came at them in all different directions. Sasuke flipped out of the way, reaching back to push Sakura into the bushes. Three senbon hit that arm, as he expected. Sakura rolled back, head over heels, stopping on her knees. Sasuke took out his kunai and blocked the senbon he could see. It was clear he was protecting her.

"The shack! Run for it!" he yelled to her. It would prove to be a good shield to hide behind. He jumped up, six kunai between his fingers. He twisted, throwing five kunai at the clones he could faintly sense hiding in the trees. They hit their mark.

Sakura ran for the shack when the number of senbon flying through the air decreased. A piercing pain in her thigh told her that she had not run fast enough, but she still did not stop until she reached the interior of the miserable looking building. Sakura hooked her arms underneath Inari's and scooted him back for his protection, before falling down on the ground. Inari looked away with a choked sob when he saw her grimly yank the long needle out of her bloody thigh.

The last enemy, the one Sasuke hoped was the real one but knew was probably not, was behind a boulder. Sasuke landed on the ground, dodged some more senbon and realized that his attacker wouldn't move. The aches and pains in the places where random senbon had found their home, as well as his team mate and a civilian in possible danger, demanded that he end the confrontation soon.

Sasuke smiled grimly. '_If there's one thing I'll thank Itachi for_,' he thought, running up the side of a tree then pushing off to free fall, '_it's for teaching me this!'_ He threw one kunai at a rather slow speed, aiming for the top of the rock. Waiting for the perfect moment, he twisted quickly, throwing the second at a faster speed. The second one hit the first kunai, making the first kunai's path shift directly downward. Sasuke landed on the ground at the same time the kunai hit his enemy.

His knees nearly buckling beneath him, he was torn between what he wanted to do and what he was supposed to do. He wanted to go and make sure that Sakura and Inari were alright, but the rules of the ninja stated that a ninja must double check his target to make sure that it has been succeeded. He yanked the senbon out of his legs and wearily made his way over to the boulder.

But before he could continue on with his path, it was redirected when he heard a high pitched shriek. With a limping run, he flung himself into the shack.

Sakura had latched on to Inari's leg, which was being pulled into what looked like a mirror. The only thing that kept Sakura from sliding in after the boy was her feet, firmly glued to the ground with chakra. He silently praised their other team mate for taking the time to teach them how to channel chakra through their feet. But Inari was clearly suffering, his pain filled cries enough to give a normal person nightmares for years.

Tears running down her face, Sakura let go of the boy. He immediately disappeared into the mirror a second before it vanished. Sasuke grabbed her arm, roughly turning her to face him.

"Why the hell did you let him go!" Sasuke yelled.

"If... If I had held on any longer..." Sakura was shaking inconsolably, her arms wrapped around her shoulders in a vain attempt to protect herself. The strange red eyes would have terrified her, but all she could think about was Inari. "I was hurting him, Sasuke! He was screaming! If I held on any longer, he could have been ripped in half!" Cursing to himself and feeling guilty, he turned to the doorway, fully intent on hunting down whoever took Inari.

The room became colder without warning, the same chill that Sakura felt in the air when the mirror appeared out of nowhere. She immediately stood back to back with Sasuke, her hands gripping a kunai.

He had gone perfectly still. His eyes, still red, widened when he saw that there was no doorway anymore. His breath came out in pants that were visible to the unaided eye.

Stiff legged, he walked over to the door and reached out to touch the almost see through barrier that kept them inside. It was so cold that it almost burned.

"S-Sasuke-kun?" Sakura whispered, her teeth chattering. He looked back, his face unreadable.

"It's ice."

Xxxxxxx

Tsunami walked to the village supermarket, a photo in her hand. "Have you seen one of these people?" she asked the clerk, flashing a picture of a bright eyed blond, a sullen dark haired boy, a happy looking girl with pink hair, a smirking brunette flashing a victory sign, and the masked but grinning man who had his hands on the boys' heads.

"Saw him." the clerk said, pointing at Naruto's cheerful grin, "and her," he said pointing at Ammy, "Was here 'bout... one, two hours ago?" She thanked him, frowning as she went. They were supposed to be back an hour ago, the team from Konoha. She knew Kakashi and her father were at the bridge, but also knew that the genin were supposed to hang around and help her out for the day. Something must have happened. It didn't soothe her nerves any when she realized that Inari was missing too.

Walking out of the store in a thoughtful and worried haze, she spotted a familiar face.

"Hey you!" Hana called out with a wave. Blinking, Tsunami realized that she never had been called 'hey you' before, especially by Hana. They had been old friends. What see didn't know was that Hana refrained from using the younger woman's name to not draw attention to Tsunami. Hana's mouth was set in a grim line. _'Oh, how things have gone straight to hell in a hand basket,_' she thought mournfully.

Hana was packing up her stand. Reluctantly, Tsunami walked over, not in the mood for a chat. Then again, Hana always seemed to know when she didn't feel like talking. There must have been a good reason why Hana wanted to speak with her.

Inari's mother paused at the stand, exchanging greetings. Hana asked if she'd like to see the merchandise. Having seen it all before, Tsunami tried to decline, but it was like the older woman didn't even hear her. She pulled out a necklace.

"This would look lovely on you, my dear!" Hana said cheerfully, slipping a white piece of paper on the stand discreetly. "Won't you take a closer look?" Tsunami leaned over, more interested in what was on the paper than the necklace. She bit her lip, reading Hana's warning to herself.

'There are two men searching around town for you and your boy. Run.' Tsunami shivered, straightening her back. _Who? Why us?_

Hana gave her an unreadable look coupled with a fake happy smile that didn't quite meet her worried eyes. "So, what do you think?"

"I-it's lovely." Tsunami said, shaken and terrified. Hana leaned forward, her facade dropping.

"My kids are just around the corner, Tsunami-chan. They know every inch of the woods. Tell them that we are playing hide and seek, and you wish to hide in a place where no one can find you." Inari's mother nodded, still looking pale and worried. "Don't worry about your boy. He spends almost as much time in the woods than my brats. Move swiftly. Many people would not care if you died today if they had extra money in their pockets."

The other woman nodded again, nearly stumbling away from the stand. "S-see you later..." the younger woman disappeared around the corner, not a moment too late.

A large man with a sword attached to his waist ambled up to her stand, shoving a picture underneath her nose. "Have ya seen anyone like dis around?" Hana blinked and looked at the picture carefully. It was Tsunami and her boy. The woman smiled disarmingly at the samurai.

"Never seen anyone like them in my entire life. Say, are you in the need for a present for any of your lady friends?"

Xxxxxxx

Meditating on the uneven ground, Ammy sighed, eyes closed. '_Dammit to hell!'_ She stood up and begun to mold her chakra, focusing it on her throat. '_Okay…hot…hotter…HOTTEST!' _Her eyes flashed open, as a stream of blue flames issued from her mouth and to the ventilation hole. She had begun to layer her skin with chakra in an effort to prevent damage from the sheer heat. The rocks bombarded by the heat begun to give way, and she increased the size of her onslaught.

A good thirty seconds later, she collapsed, gasping for breath in the heat of her prison. She felt woozy. _'That took a good third of my chakra…I'll meditate for a while and then pop a soldier pill…'_

She turned her head up to see her accomplishment. Her jaw dropped.

The solid wall that had originally confined her was now a glowing red slope, trickling closer and closer to her as it cooled and hardened into a deep black. The ice around the rest of the ditch seemed to send its remaining energy to the water around the molten rock, doubling up the cooling rate.

"Holy…shit!" A grin made its way onto her face as she stood and clambered up the still hot slope of the dried rocks. She looked up to the sky and sighed contentedly. She slumped to the ground in a meditative stance. '_Lost so much chakra…. Only have half of my reserves…'_

In what seemed like seconds afterwards, a shadow loomed over her head.

"Hey. Stop blocking my sun." She squinted at the shadow, only to be greeted by a boy with a bowl haircut and brown eyes shaded by huge eyebrows looking back at her.

"Ammy-kun?" the familiar voice asked. Ammy blinked.

"Uh... yeah, that's me…. Is that you Lee?" she asked uncertainly. What sounded like a small sound of excitement came from the boy.

"Okay! That was an extremely powerful fire ninjutsu! I was going to come and help you but Neji warned me of the chakra you were building and then BOO-"

His excited gaze was met by cold, angry eyes.

"Lee. Why are you guys here?"

xxxxxxx

Sasuke whipped around, walked up to one of the walls, and began ripping it apart. Sakura stood in the middle of the room, watching him with wide eyes.

"Sasuke-kun..." she whispered. He ignored her, making a distressed sound when he yanked the weak boards out and saw ice. He went to the other wall, only to get the same results. He slammed his fist against the ice, making a small impression. "Sasuke-kun!"

He turned, his eyes still glowing a furious red. "What!" he yelled. Sakura flinched, but she walked up to him, pulling his hands away from the walls. They were bruised and red with blood. She led him back to the middle of the room, pulled him down to sitting position, and wrapped his hands up in bandages.

"We're trapped Sakura." he said in a flat voice, looking over her head. "There's ice all around us. If we don't die of starvation or dehydration, we'll die of hypothermia." She bit her lip, but didn't comment. "The ice... the damn ice! I made a dent in it and it reformed back into its original shape." He got up when she was done and paced restlessly. "It's not regular ice!"

"It wouldn't be, now would it?" someone said quietly. Masked faces appeared in the open doorway and in the ice that Sasuke had bared.

"You!" Sasuke hissed. Sakura stood, recognizing the masked boy as well.

"Sasuke, Sakura." the boy said, eyes lingering on the Sharingan for a moment. "Your eyes turn red like your team mate's does?"

Sasuke missed the Sharingan reference, only focusing on the fact that he knew that Naruto's eyes turned red sometimes. "What did you do to him!"

Haku shrugged. "Nothing yet. He got away, but your other teammate wasn't quite as lucky."

"What do you want with us?" Sakura asked, walking toward the masked boy in the doorway. Sasuke made a move as if to pull her back, but she shook her head at him. Haku unconsciously straightened and took a step back when she came up to the ice. "Where's Inari?" Her voice was calm, but the worry in her eyes betrayed her.

"I wish for you to live." he said.

"By letting us die?" Sasuke spat. Haku shook his head.

"No, this is merely a temporary prison. I mean to set you free once my mission is complete." he said, attention shifting from the girl in front of him to the boy standing behind her. "My mission is to see that the bridge is never completed."

"And Inari?" Sakura pressed. Haku's eyes flicked back to her.

"He is fine. His leg is a little sore, but he'll live." Sakura nodded, trusting the masked boy not to lie. Sasuke made a low sound of frustration in his throat, shifting his glares between each Haku in the ice.

"We aren't going to stay here like obedient puppies." Sasuke said, tugging Sakura away from the ice. "We have a mission to complete ourselves." Haku laughed softly.

"The brown haired girl said much of the same thing. But where I can see her somehow pulling a miracle out of nowhere and escaping, I cannot see you doing the same thing. So if it pleases you, you may make your attempts at escaping. I'll be back when my mission is completed." Haku bowed slightly, and then faded from view.

Sasuke turned to Sakura, his voice gruff. "Well, what do we do now?"

xxxxxxx

Inari whimpered when they came to a sudden stop. His captor put him down gently. Even with the instinctive knowledge that his kidnapper wasn't bad, he curled away from the ninja, fearful of what he might do.

"As I promised, young one." Haku said, gesturing in front of him. "You are home." Inari looked up, a hopeful gaze fixing on the back door to his house. He shakily stood, eyes shifting from the quiet ninja to the house in front of him. Determining that the ninja wasn't going to do anything, he took a step toward his home, his heart lighter with hopes of seeing his mother and his grandfather.

A hand on his shoulder falling on his shoulder made him flinch and freeze. "Wait just a moment." Haku said, walking ahead of Inari. "Something is… off." The mist-nin walked up the steps, Inari on his heels. Hakus slid open the door, revealing chaos inside the small house.

There were holes in the walls, ripped things thrown around. The table at which Inari's family and Team Seven ate at was in two pieces, a clean slice that could have only been done by a sword. Haku frowned, gently pulling Inari away from the ruins. The boy didn't resist, tears running down his face at the thought of what could have happened to his family. A neat pile of groceries was on the ground lying next to a note

Inari dashed to the note and snatched it up, reading through its contents, Ammy's words ringing through his mind.

_"You may cry about the loss of your step father, but the loss of the rest of your family would only make that sorrow all the stronger. So don't waste the time you have." _

Naruto's messily scrawled printing met his eyes.

_To either Tsunami or Inari,_

_I'm sorry I couldn't get here on time. From what I can see, this was only property damage. It seems they were searching for you guys. I suggest you hide. Gotta go. Looking for stuff. Catch you later. Stay alive._

_Naruto._

_P.S. Put the stuff in the fridge. _

Inari collapsed on the ground, shaking in terror and relief. Haku knelt down beside the boy, his hand on the youngster's back. "If it's any consolation, I do not detect any traces of blood." he said, his voice soft. Inari knocked his hand away.

"What do you care!" the boy shouted. "You work for the guy!"

Haku looked into Inari's eyes, seeing something that Inari couldn't see in himself. He stood, turning to walk away. "Just because I work for a man doesn't mean that I share his same ambitions, moral, ideals. It simply means I am his tool, nothing more, nothing less." he glanced over his shoulder at Inari's huddled form. "I suggest you hide in the woods. You'll be found in seconds if your pursuer is a ninja, but if he is a samurai, one of Gatōu's simple minded hired hands, you'll stand a fighting chance." The boy of ice left in a flash of ice, leaving no trail to follow.

His legs shaking and a small spark of hope in his heart, Inari stood. He walked into the woods at first, then full out ran. He never looked back.

xxxxxxx

"Zabuza." Kakashi said in an even tone, both eyes focused on the shadowy figure on top of the mangled mess of the crane. The mist nin laughed.

"My, the Sharingan is out so early… were you expecting a showdown?" Zabuza jumped down, landing in a slight crouch. Kakashi took a step back, sliding into a defensive position with one kunai out horizontal in front of him. "Heh, we have plenty of time. Why do you want to end it so early? We could have some... fun." When Kakashi fixed him with a cold gaze, the mist nin shrugged, sliding into a fighting position himself, his hands preparing to perform hand seals. "Keh, you leaf nins. Always so stiff and formal. Suit yourself."

An ice mirror appeared out of nowhere. Zabuza's partner walked calmly out of it.

"It is done." Haku said without emotion. Warning bells went off in Kakashi's head, fueled when Zabuza gave him a vindictive look.

"If you are expecting backup, I'd hate to burst your bubble..." Kakashi's eyes widened. _'No! The kids!'_

"What did you do to them!" he said, controlled fury lighting up the depths in his eyes. Haku turned to him, seeming to recognize those eyes. He paused before answering.

"You should worry more about yourself than them."

xxxxxxx

Lee and Tenten flinched, taken aback by her coldness. Neji raised his eyebrow. '_Hmmmm… Like a leader almost.' _

"Where are the others?" Neji asked in his blunt and direct way.

"Don't avoid my question, what are _you_ doing here?" Ammy repeated in that same stone cold voice and unforgiving glint in her eyes.

Neji sighed, "We were sent here as backup for your squad after some chunin found the Demon Brothers tied up outside our gates by four miles."

Ammy seemed to relax a bit. "Alright. Hmm, haven't seen you three since I was at the orphanage." she chuckled.

"Where are the others?"

"Naruto's headed to find Sakura-san and Sasuke…we are to rendezvous at the bridge." she answered, and then looked at the three genin. "Where's that crazy teacher of yours?"

"He went straight to the bridge." Tenten cut in before Lee could start defending their admittedly odd teacher.

Ammy suddenly seemed to have a revelation. "Wait…They screw up, sending a genin team on what could very well be an A class mission, then think it's just dandy to send another genin team to fix their mistakes?"

"The Exam is coming up. Jōnin and chūnin are in demand. We happen to be the strongest genin team." Neji said haughtily.

"Of course." Ammy said in a condescending tone. "Of last year, maybe." Neji's eyes narrowed.

"So, we'll go find Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun and Sakura-san and you wait in the village." Lee said. The other two genin nodded. Ammy looked rebellious.

"What, are you kidding?" Neji gave her a sharp glare.

"No. As your senior officers-"

"Whoa, hold up. Are you pulling rank on me?!" Ammy asked, getting right in Neji's face. The Hyuuga didn't budge. "I, for one, am not going to be ordered around by a guy with a stick shoved up his ass. You guys can go find Naruto, Sakura-san and the broody bastard. I'm going to the damn bridge." Just when she turned around to leave, three pairs of hands grasped her shoulders.

"You aren't going anywhere, fool." Neji snapped.

"Sorry Ammy-kun. Orders are orders." Lee said apologetically.

"No exceptions." Tenten said sternly, but with gentle understanding. Ammy looked at the three, a scowl marring her face. It suddenly melted into a calm look that just spelled trouble.

"My orders are to keep Tazuna and his family safe. My orders are to help out any team mate in need of assistance, even if that team mate happens to be Kakashi-sensei. My orders are to defend, not cower behind a stuck up Hyuuga and two older genin." She spun on her heel, dislodging their hands. "I dare you to try and stop me."

The older genin immediately took up defensive poses, intent on stopping her even if they had to beat her senseless. Ammy smiled sadly.

"Fighting you would take too long. Time is of the essence." Here, she laughed. Her hands blurred with the movements of hand seals. Team Gai tensed, expecting an attack.

"Just try to catch me. Taijū fūji rirīsu: 2!" Just like that, Ammy disappeared.

"Lee!" Tenten cried out. The boy immediately dropped his weights went after the flash that his eyes, much more used to blinding speeds, barely caught a glimpse of. He came back several minutes later, his shoulders slumped.

"I'm sorry. I lost her." he said.

"That jutsu..." Neji said, looking off to the side. "I have never seen anything like that." _'Such speed and power hidden away into a deception of weakness... Maybe the Uchiha isn't the only member of Team Seven 7 should be watching out for.'_

"We'll ask Gai-sensei later." Lee said, determination returning to his gaze. "Let's find Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun and Sakura-san first."

**Ammy's jutsu list (cont.)!:**

Taijū fūji rirīsu: 1= Weight Seal Release Level One

**So i seriously hope you enjoyed this chapter cause, I'd be sad if you didn't. xD Review please, and yeah. **

**Thanks to:**

**summerhazel**

**Akashi Ookami**

Sayonara Yasashii Akumu

Guestums

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**For reviewing! Here's a digital cookie. Yeah. Check my profile guys.**


	7. Chapter 7: The Showdown- Part One

**Hello readers! Looks like I'm back on schedule, kind of. Actually, more like being a little ahead of schedule. I've decided to grace you amazing readers with an early chapter, considering how long it took to post the latest one. xD This chapter is 1/2 of the climax of the wave arc! Good for me, cause I really wanna move onto some other ideas I have planned for the story line of this fic. **

**I'm going to give a brief description for what is in store for the near future. Judging from what I have so far, there will be one more arc, filled with new plot devices, before the Chunin exams. So there are about three chapters left before some newer stuff is introduced(including this one). …..So...Stay… tuned I guess? Hahahaha. **

**Chapter 7: The Showdown Begins**

For the seventh time, Inari tripped over an overgrown root. Biting back a curse, he stood once more on shaky legs and ran deeper into the woods. It mattered not that he knew the woods like the back of his hand. It mattered not that there was a good chance that Haku was still going after him, to tie loose ends by getting rid of Inari. All that mattered was that if his mother knew there was danger, she'd either go into town or hide in the old tree house his step dad had built for him on his seventh birthday.

He stopped in front of the old oak trees, hands reaching out for the once familiar ladder. He climbed up, his feet slipping twice. Here, at least, he'd be safe. Here he could form some sort of offensive.

Even if his 'weapons' were nothing more than an old wooden bat and an old iron frying pan. They would work fine against unsuspecting samurai, but if it was a ninja who trailed after him...

He curled up in the corner, his two meager weapons in hand. If it was a ninja, he was done for.

* * *

If he twitched one more time, she swore, even though he was Sasuke and she loved him, she'd kick the shit out of him. Or at least, that's what Inner Sakura swore. The more passive (at least when it came to Sasuke) kunoichi looked away, forcing a smile.

They both were sitting on the ground, both with their backs to the same wall. Sakura's legs were curled on her side while Sasuke's were slightly bent at the knee, while his elbows rested on his knees. They weren't touching, but they were close to one another, both craving some sort of heat but too prideful to scoot over the extra inch. The wall that they sat against was the one that was the most intact, and while insulating them from some of the chill, didn't keep them warm at all.

The Uchiha rolled his eyes, not seeing how she could smile. They were trapped in a freezing prison, and she acts like they're on a picnic? Not to mention that it took three times to tell her to shut up and one glare before she stopped fussing over him. Women.. Sasuke sighed, cracking his knuckles. Steam poured out of Inner Sakura's ears.

'_**Get out of my way! I'm kicking his ass!'**_ her more violent personality exclaimed, a tire iron appearing out of nowhere. Sakura folded her hands in her lap, tensing slightly.

"You're really annoying." they both said at the same time. They both snapped out of their own thoughts, looking suspiciously at one another, the beginnings of a scowl on their faces.

"No, I'm not." they said in unison. Their scowls deepened.

"Stop copying me." Again, their voices were in harmony.

"No, you stop copying me." Finally Sakura saw the hilarity of it.

"Jinx!" she called it. "Haha. You owe me a soda." Sasuke's scowl lessened slightly.

"That's stupid." he said, feeling annoyed that he forgot to call it first. Sakura was grinning.

"Would you rather owe me a date?" she said, a sly smile that reminded him of Naruto on her face. He immediately paled, then tried to hide the expression behind a cold facade.

"Fine. I'll get you your damn soda. After we get out of this hell." Again, Sakura looked amused.

"Hah, hell froze over." When Sasuke gave her a dry look, she shook her head. Sakura was suspicious that Sasuke didn't have a single humorous bone in his body. "Never mind." She sighed, a look of boredom settling back in. The corners of Sasuke's mouth twitched upward. "Wanna play 'I Spy'?

"In two rounds, we'd be back to ice." he said, glancing at her. The red had settled down, leaving only onyx eyes.

"How about we try to guess what each other is thinking?" she randomly threw out another, knowing it was probably going to be sent back with a big, fat 'NO' on it.

"No, I am not thinking about you."

"Ugh, darn. How about we count the number of planks on each wall?"

"North wall, eleven. South wall, eleven. East wall, twelve. West wall, eleven and a half. In total, forty-five and a half." he said in a monotone.

"And a half?" he nodded. "Fine then... Um, we could throw kunai at the knot in the wood over there."

The look Sasuke gave her made her feel slightly insulted. "No challenge." Her eye twitched. "I assume I am not that much entertainment." Sakura gave him a look.

"You assume correctly." she said flatly. "Who knew that a guy who seems so interesting would actually be so boring?" She detected a slight challenge in his previous statement, which was why she baited him into a verbal battle. Normally, she'd try to sooth his wounded ego, but she was just too damn cold, too damn bored, and too damn interested what he'd say in retaliation to care much about wounded egos.

"I am very entertaining." Sasuke said with a mocking air. "You're the one who's boring. Besides, any one of my... fan girls would kill to be in the same situation as me." Sakura had to stifle a laugh. He was almost pouting.

"So... then you'd prefer to be glomped on than yawned at?" When he seemed like he was thinking it over, she cracked up. Sasuke finally smiled.

"You really are spending too much time around Naruto." they said at the same time. This time, Sasuke jumped for it.

"Jinx." he said. Sakura pouted. "I nullify the part where I owe you a soda."

"Damn. You suck."

Sasuke stretched and stood, holding out a hand for her. She accepted it, pulling herself up. He walked over to the doorway, the constant glaring reminder that they were trapped in a dome of ice. Earlier observations told them that the ice was about four feet thick and had a nasty habit of reforming itself whenever it was damaged.

"We need to get out of here." Sasuke said, sobering up. "Dobe's out there somewhere, getting himself killed and Ammy's in a trap like us. Not to mention Tazuna and Kakashi." His stony face, softened a little by worry, was reflected back at him in the ice.

Sakura joined him, looking over his shoulder. She bit her lip, the beginnings of a plan forming in her mind. "Um." she tugged on his sleeve. He turned to her. "I think I got something. Hear me out, okay?"

She started pacing in the middle of the room. "So there's an opposite to everything, right? Yin and yang. Guy and girl. So forth. Ice's natural enemy is fire, isn't it? But when ice is melted, it becomes fire's natural enemy, water."

"Yeah. So even if I used a fire jutsu against the damn ice, it would be extinguished before it could reach the other side. And because there's more chakra in this ice than in normal ice, even ice created in ice jutsu (damn that guy and his blood limit), it would just reform in ten seconds." Sakura nodded, snapping her fingers.

"So therein lays the problem. Because of the water, the time, the chakra factor, we can't get out of here with a basic, chunin level fire jutsu. It doesn't have enough chakra in it to hold its form." The way she looked excited made Sasuke feel like he should know the solution to their dilemma. Then it dawned on him. Ice was weak to fire and a chunin level technique wouldn't work so… they'd need a higher level or boosted technique.

A bang echoed throughout the small hut. They both whirled to the entryway where they saw Naruto casually standing in front of where the door would have been. "Hmmmm… Looks like Ammy was right. You were going to be trapped."

"Dobe!" "Naruto!" was heard from the duo in unison.

"Hey. Sup? Looks like you two are having trouble there."

"No shit. Help us out? Please?" Sakura asked, big green eyes peering at Naruto.

"Hahaha, sorry, but I can't help that much. I'm just a clone. I'm headed to the bridge right now. Almost crashed into Haku earlier, so I had to find a way to find you guys. I have a special fire tag of Ammy's and a few explosion tags. Ammy's tag boosts fire ninjutsu. It's really powerful. Reduces amount of energy put into the attack and boosts it. She said she had a copy of the design somewhere else so this one's free to use. Said it was from her brother, too."

"…That's….. Strangely convenient. Any ideas on how to get it past the ice?" Sasuke asked, surprised.

"Nope. Maybe…. Wait a second…" The Naruto-clone poofed out of existence, the tag he was holding fluttering down to the ground.

"That…..IDIOT!" Sakura yelled angrily bashing on the ice. The two slumped to the ground and thought of other ideas to break the wall open.

"Hi again guys!" multiple voices rang out in the clearing before the hut. The two lifted their heads, realizing that Naruto WASN'T being a total idiot.

"So Naruto had others scouting for us…." Sasuke murmured looking wide eyed at Sakura.

"And the first one dispelled to tell the others…" Sakura mumbled back. "I think we seriously underestimated Naruto."

"You don't say?" Sasuke drawled back sarcastically.

"Hey, if you two are done yammering, can we get on with this?" A single clone spoke and was responded with murmurs of agreement.

Sakura and Sasuke shared a shrug as they stood up.

"Okay, you guys should stand back." The clones all pulled out fire explosive tags and begun to strategically place them on the door frame.

"U-um, Naruto? That would probably get us outside…" Sakura murmured.

"Hmmm? Oh. I guess, but if it doesn't work, I'll try to get the tag in. Need a plan B right?"

"Alright. Let's do this." Sasuke agreed.

"Remember, we only have a ten second leeway." Sakura said encouragingly while a small smile grew on her face.

"Okay. Everything's set. In 3...2…..1!"

*BOOM*

Immediately heating up the small space, the tag induced fireball issued from the slips of paper. With a roar, the mass of flames slammed head first into the doorway, burning the wood and melting the ice. With a resiliency that was due entirely to the excessive amount of tags that built the mass of flame, it pushed through the water and the ice, punching a hole right through it, leaving a wide gap for its creator to go through. It met its end when it hit a tree, failing to ignite it because of the wall of ice it had went through weakened it to a sixteenth of its size.

The gap started to close. Cursing, Sasuke grabbed Sakura by the back of her dress, ignoring her yelp of surprise, and tossed her through the hole, jumping through right after. The walls had nearly closed in on him, but it was ironically the water, a blessing in disguise, that quickened his impromptu slide and got him out before he became a Sasukesicle.

He put his arms in front of his face to take the impact, rolling with the movement until he landed in a crouch. The ice closed behind him. A few feet away, Sakura rolled over, giving the best glare she could manage through her chattering teeth. He winced, realizing the water that had spurred him forward and now drenched his shirt had hardened into ice.

He really hated that kid. What kind of blood line was the masked mist nin a part of that had ice powers this powerful and resilient?

"Y-you deserve it." Sakura said, trying to hold her dress out in front of her to avoid contact with her skin. "You b-big meanie."

Grimacing, Sasuke slid off his stiff shirt. "An unseen complication, but over all, not very serious." Sakura turned a bright red at the sight of his bared, pale skin.

"Not v-very serious! I'm a girl, I can't just take off my shirt!" she yelled, but slid off her dress, revealing shorts and a tank top. Her shirt and shorts were in just as bad of shape as her dress.

Sasuke slammed his shirt against the rock, shattering the ice into small crystals that scattered on the ground, more likely to melt because of decreased surface area and the decrease of chakra running through each shard. "There's a bush." he said nonchalantly. Sakura opened and closed her mouth a few times before she figured out the best revenge for this transgression.

"When we get home, I'm so going to sic Ino on you!" she sputtered, walking behind the clump of bushes and trees. A moment later, a sound like breaking glass reached Sasuke's ears. He slipped his shirt back on.

The Uchiha, even with his hands busy and his mind full of plans to aid the rest of their team, couldn't stop smiling.

The clone grinned at his two teammates that seemingly forgotten about their viewers, as he laid the tag on the ground. "I guess that worked out after all." He disappeared in a poof of smoke.

* * *

Kakashi leapt out of the way of the sudden showering of ice needles from above. A soft whistle of something going through air at a high speed was the only thing that warned him of Zabuza's incoming blade. He rolled to the side, the sword scraping the ground in its descent instead of cleaving him in half.

He hated being double teamed. The sharingan was set up mostly for one on one battles. It wasn't helping him too much in this particular battle.

Tazuna, half hidden behind one of the large metal crates that he had yet to take off his bridge, bit his nails nervously. He could see three lower level ninjas fighting a higher level ninja and living to talk about it, like Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto did, but he just couldn't see their teacher winning against two ninjas of the same level as he.

'_If only I could do something!'_ he thought, both scared of what would happen if Kakashi failed and died trying, and guilty that he was the one to drag Team Seven into this mess.

"Tazuna-san." Kakashi said, his back to the old man. "Leave now. I cannot promise your protection."

"He won't be leaving." Zabuza said, scraping the tip of his sword against the ground and pretending not the notice the high pitched screech it made. "He's our mission." Haku stayed silent.

Kakashi slid his foot back, a kunai held horizontally out in front of him. "You can finish your mission... over my dead body."

"Why, I think I'll take that invitation..." Zabuza said with a chilling laugh.

"Tazuna, go!" Kakashi shouted, defending himself against Zabuza's sudden attack. The mist nin swung his blade horizontally. Kakashi jumped, landing on the thick metal. He dashed forward, kicking Zabuza in the face. The other man slid back several paces, a hand coming up to cover his bloody nose. Haku wasn't in sight.

A gust of wind ruffled the jonin's hair, immediately making him turn to look at Tazuna's quickly retreating back. An ice mirror opened up several meters above the running man. Haku slipped out of it, a mere blinding shadow darting down on his prey like an over grown hawk.

'_No!'_ Kakashi thought, his heart pounding. He started to run toward them, even though he knew he'd never make it in time. What little chance that he could, however, was depleted when Zabuza leapt in front of him, attacking him swiftly with basic taijutsu.

Tazuna happened to look up, seeing Haku bearing down on him. His jaw dropped, his eyes reverting to the size of dinner plates. _'This is the end!'_ he thought, cringing.

Just then, a dark streak zipped over him, impacting heavily with the masked boy. Ammy, dwarfed by Haku's size, had tackled the boy, digging her shoulder into the other boy's stomach, before Haku could complete his mission.

Haku broke Ammy's hold on him, landing a few feet away. Ammy landed in front of Tazuna, a smirk on her face.

"I did warn you that I'd escape. Now you're going to get your ass kicked!" she cracked her knuckles.

"Heroes always show up at the last minute, don't ya know," a voice rang out from behind. A blonde boy made it out of the forest, grinning and waving a hello at Ammy. His eyes met Haku's, and an intense look entered his eyes.

'_Ammy. Naruto'_ A weight lifted from Kakashi's shoulders with his sigh of relief. "Oi, Ammy! Naruto!" Naruto broke his staring contest with Haku to look over at him. Ammy glanced over, rolling a small pill between her fingers. Kakashi smiled warmly, although the gesture was wasted behind his mask. "You both take care of him." Two sets of blue eyes widened at the trust the jonin had for the genin.

Naruto grinned even more, giving the jonin a thumbs up. "Right! Got you covered, Kashi-sensei!"

* * *

Tsunami rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. The man she had run into was certainly no samurai, yet when she was startled by his sudden appearance, she smacked him across the face hard.

He rubbed his red cheek, looking sheepish himself. "I forgot. People in this country aren't used to randomly appearing ninjas." A grin meant to comfort only served to nearly blind her with its whiteness.

"Ninjas? You're a ninja too?" she asked. She started to look for his headband, for she was informed from Sakura that anyone who had a leaf etching on his or her plates were probably allies, while any other symbol could possibly mean that they were Gatōu's hired hands. She sighed in relief when she saw his belt was similar to Team Seven's forehead protectors. "Konoha."

The man beamed. "Yes! That is where I am from! Knowing our symbol, you must surely have met my rival, Kakashi!"Tsunami nodded, blinking in surprise when the strange looking man started to shake her hand. "Yes! My name is Maito Gai, Kakashi must talk so much about me! We are here to back up his team. The stirrings of youth are strong on that team, but sadly, they are merely passionate rookies." This he said all in one breath.

"Uh..." was the only intelligent sound that came from her. Gai merely grinned.

"Ah, I see you know of my name! I am very popular in the ninja world." he said with a forcefully modest look, his hand on his chin. "They call me the Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha!"

I see green... and I see beast. Tsunami thought, swirly eyed. Then she sobered, remembering the would-be fate of her son. _'If he knows Kakashi-san, he must be strong!'_

"Please! I need your help! I am the daughter to the bridge builder, the man that Gatōu has been targeting. He sent some samurai after us, and I cannot find my son! Can you please help me?" she begged.

"Yes!" Gai said, taking her hands in his. "With the power of youth behind me, I shall help you find your family!" Without explanation, he swept her off of her feet and started to run. "I shall follow every young chakra I can sense in the forest until we find the one that is your son! Or my name is not Maito Gai!"

"They're not in here." Neji said flatly, deactivating his Byakugan. A strange dome of pure ice had caught their attention, many different colored lights reflecting off of the surface of the ice. It appeared to be a prison. But no one was in it. Crouching on the ground, Tenten called her team over.

"Look, foot prints! Two different pairs, Sasuke and Sakura's most likely. The unique print of Konoha sandals, you see?" she pointed out the almost unnoticeable swirl near the heel and the toes of the foot print.

"And shards of ice." Lee said, a few feet away from her.

"They must have figured a way out." Neji concluded. "And like their foolish team mate, decided to go 'help' out." Where the Hyuuga sounded uncaring of their fates, both Tenten and Lee frowned.

"I hope they'll be okay." she muttered to Lee. Lee sighed, nodding in agreement.

"And now we are to go to the village and stay there." Neji said in a sharp tone, overhearing them. "Just like Gai told us." Normally, Lee would have been tooting his horn about how they were supposed to be obedient and listen to their teacher and blah blah blah, but the normally loud boy was quiet, his thoughts full of ways he could get away from his team to help out.

Neji sensed rebellious thoughts churning in his team mates' heads. He had to crack down on those thoughts, for they would only lead to injury or death for supposing a noble role. It was really for their own good.

* * *

A thousand curses sprang up to his throat, yet he beat them down with a control that would have surprised any who knew him. Instead of being helpful to Ammy's case, he found that he was completely unable to help at this point in time, the two combatants moving at a pace too fast for him to try and match.

Kakashi was fighting Zabuza, but not all that seriously, as Naruto had yet to see a dangerous jutsu appear. Still, the sharingan was a major threat, but it wasn't an assassination technique. Hiding behind several crates, Tazuna peered at them, too stubborn to run away, yet too cowardly to move closer. Biting his lip, Naruto realized he and Ammy needed to do things fast, or else someone was going to die today. He refocused on Ammy waiting for a moment to attack.

Ammy had attempted a capture maneuver that he barely remembered from the Academy, only forced to stop to avoid what would have been a stab to her shoulder. She was nicked though. The only good thing that came from her attempt was that Ammy's scent of blood now marked the mist nin, which might eventually help Naruto out later on, but not even he knew if it would.

Haku frowned. The changes were slight, but it was obvious that with each passing minute, Ammy was getting faster and faster, her reflexes saving her from more blows, and her strength increasing some. Of course, neither ninja knew that her body had been slowly adjusting to the increased speed, though she was used to training without seal weights. The soldier pill was helping the progress along, as her chakra was rapidly replenishing itself with her strength.

Several senbon were thrown her way. She managed to block several of them with her kunai, but one lodged in her side. Cursing, she yanked it out at threw it back at Haku. She had always wanted to use senbon, but had never been able to get her hands on a teacher. Needless to say, she was proud to say that it flew towards its target in a straight line.

Haku caught it between his fingers. "Thank you."

Sighing in frustration, Ammy put her kunai away, beginning to mold some chakra experimentally. Seeing this, Naruto automatically formed familiar hand seals. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Seven Narutos charged, taking their own kunai out of their pouches and attacked the mist nin, buying Ammy a bit of time to find her bearings, jutsu-wise. Haku jumped, parrying each attack with his own weapon. He grabbed one clone by the front of his vest and threw it at two others. They exploded into smoke. The other four Narutos jumped back.

Something landed at Haku's feet. He looked down, a kunai with a burning tag attached to it catching his attention. He jumped back just in time to get out of the way of the explosion. But before he regained his balance on the ground, Naruto was attacking him again, all of the remaining clones attaching on to him firmly like leeches.

Ammy slid in front of him, keeping her body low to the ground. When Haku was too busy trying to knock the four off of him, Ammy pushed all of her weight onto one hand, launching her foot into Haku's jaw. The mist nin flew back, the kage bunshins that were on him suddenly disappearing. He landed unsteadily. The bottom of his mask cracked and broke off, paling in comparison to the aching pain in his jaw. He reached up to touch it. And… was that a burn?

Ammy was on the ground in a low offensive position, hands balled into fists. White flames flickered around her fists, heat menacingly licking at Haku. "Hakuen o sōsa," A smirk ghosted over her face before vanishing without a trace. The flames died down to a typical yellow and orange flame.

Haku frowned, a now visible sight. _'It seems like Kasai-san is not planning to fight me at full power. That can only be a good thing for now. Her power far surpasses my own. I must finish this quickly, before she steps up her power.'_

Similar thoughts ran through Naruto's mind. "Haku." he said, looking serious as he walked up closer to the combatants. "You and that guy will die if you continue this. Please, just back down. No one will think any less of you."

"Zabuza's orders are of a higher priority than my life, as are his well being and happiness." Haku said firmly. "Anything other than that means nothing to me."

Naruto's temper flared, as he stopped. He marched up right beside his teammate and opened his mouth to yell. "Didn't you hear me! You both will die! What would you rather do, watch Zabuza get killed without moving a finger, or prevent his death! What means more, his damn orders, or his life!" Haku drew back slightly, not saying a word. He closed his eyes, deep in thought.

"Naruto!" Naruto tore his angry eyes away from Haku, looking over at the two genin running toward him. Kakashi glanced at the two himself, before having his attention snagged back by Zabuza, who didn't like to be ignored. He jumped out of the way of the missing nin's wild swing, then darted forward, snapping his hand at the hand holding the hilt of the massive sword. He reflexively spasmed in pain, as Zabuza's fingers let go of the sword. Taking no chances, Kakashi kicked the sword over the side of the bridge.

'_One hurdle down, how many more to go?'_ he thought. Zabuza's hands lifted and started creating seals. _'Ah, crap.'_

"Sakura-san... Sasuke." Ammy murmured. They looked like hell. Sasuke had multiple puncture wounds and a nasty gash along his left check, as well as bandaged hands. Sakura had a makeshift bandage around her thigh that wasn't doing much to stop the rapid bleeding.

Out of the corner of Naruto's eye, he saw Haku flinch at the sight of Sakura's blood. "Huh?" _'Why the sudden hate of blood?'_

Ammy seemed to notice too, as she replied to his unasked question. "Sakura-san isn't a fighter. You, Sasuke and myself are. He'd fight and kill us, and it wouldn't put any burden on his conscience, but," Ammy drawled,"attacking someone who rarely fights would. Not to mention she's a fellow girl."

"What's gender got to do with anything?"

"Well…..With the 'devil' as your shadow, do you think you'd see very many females in your life? Very rarely." Naruto shrugged in response.

"Glad to see you understand," Ammy chuckled. She turned her attention to her incoming teammates. "Stay near Tazuna!" she shouted.

"Me and Ammy got Icy covered!" Naruto hollered.

"Like hell, dobe!" Sasuke yelled back. "You screw everything up! If there was a way to burn water, you could find it! I can't trust you to keep yourself alive!"

Naruto's temper flared. What did Sasuke know? "And why the hell not!"

"Because you care too much about everyone else!" The Uchiha shouted, his hands forming seals. "Katon Gokakyu no Jutsu!" A huge, boosted, ball of smoldering heat and flame issued out of his mouth, zooming straight for Haku. The mist nin jumped, unnerved when the ball seemed to follow his every move, though that was Ammy's work. Haku twisted out of the way of the flames' reach, setting up ice mirrors everywhere to both improve his speed and also to slow down the attack.

"Care..?" Naruto echoed.

"Oh, please. No need to be modest. You must have already known that..." Ammy chuckled halfheartedly, focused on maneuvering the fire ball. "What, you need examples?"

"Alright! I get the picture!" Naruto said to her sullenly.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cheered. Naruto looked over. "You did it!" The Uchiha didn't seem to hear her, his eyes suddenly glassy, his body swaying slightly. Ammy's eyes widened, recognizing the symptoms. "Aw, crap. He used the tag wrong. Must've not known how to activate it properly."

Naruto walked over, his eyes once drifting over to the busy mist nin before returning to his friend. "Sakura-chan, get him out of here, he's about to drop." Ammy interjected, "That tag eats up extra chakra if you forget to run chakra though it before beginning the jutsu." Almost as if to prove Naruto and Ammy's point, Sasuke's knees weakened underneath him. With an audible thud, he hit the ground. Immediately, he felt slim arms curl around his shoulder and his waist, hoisting up his suddenly weakened body.

"L'ggo." he said drowsily. "Nothin.. the matter.. with me."

"Chakra depletion." Sakura said to herself grimly. She walked toward one of the crates, dragging a weakly protestingSasuke along with her. Sensing her need for assistance, Tazuna stepped out from behind his crate; taking Sasuke's other arm and helped Sakura carry the nearly unconscious boy behind one of the crates.

Ammy seemed to contemplate something, as she reached into her short's pocket. She made a clone, and put something into its palm and sent it to Sakura with a message. Sakura nodded and put that something into Sasuke's mouth. He woke up a few seconds afterwards, still groggy. The clone nodded to itself for a job well done as it dispelled. Ammy turned her attention back to her opponent.

Haku's ice once again proved to be stronger than any fire jutsu. The mist nin straightened, his chakra burning an intense blue around his body.

'_Damn, that barely put a dent in him at all!'_ Ammy thought, facing him. She took a few steps back for good measure, finding himself back to back with her teacher.

Ammy could feel Kakashi's deep sigh. "Wanna trade for a moment?" Blinking, Ammy made a noise of agreement. Kakashi knelt, hooked arms with the much shorter girl, and in a fluid movement, flipped the genin over him.

"You know, we could have just switched places the normal way." Ammy whined amusedly while rubbing her slightly sore spine. She mock glared at the jonin.

"Where's the fun in that? Keep tall, dark, and ugly busy." Kakashi reached inside his vest for a summon scroll. Ammy locked eyes with Zabuza who grinned wickedly at her through his parted bandages. She seemed to deflate before reentering the previous stance that she held before her fight with Haku had been interrupted.

Naruto had spun around to back up Amy as he was before. He found it hard to swallow as his eyes caught hold of their new opponent.

"Gotcha." Naruto squeaked.

* * *

"Are you Inari, son of Tsunami, the lovely lady right here, the grandson of Tazuna- What?" Gai broke off his speech when Tsunami whispered something in his ear. "Oh... OH! Uh, sorry little girl." Traumatized by the huge leprechaun that thought she was a boy, the little girl wandered off in search of her friends.

"One more chakra left! I'm sure this one's your son!" Gai said to the woman.

"Yes, and I thank you for helping me look for him, but do you think it's really necessary for you to carry me-"

"And off we go!" Once again, they were moving at blinding speeds that made Tsunami's head spin. She couldn't tell if he was being deliberately evasive, or if his mind was too occupied to hear her. It turned out to be the latter of the two.

'_Hahahahahaha! I shall gain one more point against you, Rival Kakashi!' _Gai thought, his eyes burning in passionate flames._ 'I don't recall you helping ever saving a family from breaking apart! Young Inari, we are coming for you!'_

He slid to a stop under a tree, nearly burning a trail under his feet. Tsunami nearly sighed with relief when she felt the jonin put her down.

"There appears to be..." Gai squinted up at the top of the tree, drawing the woman's own attention to it. The sudden recognition of the old tree house made tears spring in her eyes. She could see her husband grinning down at her from the roof, all sweaty and tired, but happy because he put a smile on Inari's face.

Gai pushed back his sleeves importantly. "I'll go up. You stay here." he climbed up the planks nailed into the tree as a makeshift ladder. He pushed up the flap and poked his head in. "Hello?"

Tsunami flinched when there was a metallic thud. The jonin fell out of the tree, going splat on the ground. She leaned over, looking at the huge bump on the ninja's head. His eyes were swirling, but his injury didn't seem that serious.

"Green… fishies... ate... my Lee." he mumbled incoherently. Tsunami sweat dropped.

"Are you alright?" she asked, kneeling by his side. Gai only laughed oddly before mumbling about perverts, monkeys, and rivalries. At the sound of her voice, whatever attacked the jonin poked his head out of one of the windows, a bent out of shape pan in one hand.

"Mom?" he whispered. The woman's head snapped up, her eyes glowing in relief. She jumped to her feet.

"Inari!" At her answering call, her son's head disappeared, and then his body appeared, climbing down the ladder so fast that his feet slipped and he fell the rest of the way. Tsunami caught her son and collapsed to the ground with him in her lap, crying in relief.

"Oh, sweetie..." she whispered, hugging the boy to her. He hugged back just as fiercely.

"Oh Mom, I'm sorry. I was a jerk and I can never repay you guys. That guy was right, I'll never not appreciate you again." he rambled, quieted only when he buried his head into her shoulder. Tsunami rocked him, although he was eight and too old to be rocked. Eventually, he stopped crying, but his eyes still remained bright.

"The fact that you're safe," she murmured, kissing his forehead, "that's payment enough." Inari sniffled, rubbing at his eyes while he pulled back. His eyes drifted over to the guy he hit with his now deformed frying pan.

"Who?" he asked simply, a hand running through his wild black hair.

"A Konoha jonin." she said, looking back at him. "An ally. Who's now delirious."

("Barney is jealous of my mad ninja skills." Gai muttered, only to be tuned out.)

"Oh, oops." Inari said sheepishly. Tsunami laughed like she never laughed before. She ruffled his hair.

"I love you, kiddo." Inari grinned at her, a mischievous look on his face that Tsunami had missed for such a long time, ever since her husband died, taking all of Inari's warm personality with him.

"You'll do, Mom."

* * *

Neji crossed his arms across his chest, leaning against the wall of what was Tazuna's home. The other two watched him warily, knowing that even with his eyes closed, the Hyuuga prodigy could still see them. Lee pushed himself off of the ground.

"Where you going?" Neji asked sharply.

"To the bathroom. Wanna watch?" Lee said in a low tone that was almost too sarcastic to be his own. Neji's eyebrow lifted. Tenten's eyes softened in pity. _'Poor Lee. He's probably so worried about that team.'_

Neji tossed his head, choosing not to answer. Lee left, his shoulders stiff with a grim look on his face. He took off for the woods. After a moment, Tenten stood.

"And you?" he said, his eyes half open. She stiffened and hid her nervousness with a sharp glare.

"I'm stretching my legs." she stretched to prove her point. "Can't you tell? I'm going to the market. You want anything?" The Hyuuga shook his head, preferring to stay in the same spot. She took off to the market.

With a faint smile, she stopped when she was exactly fifty-one meters away from Neji, thus out of his seeing range. Keeping a fifty-one meter distance from Neji at all times, she doubled back, taking the same route that Lee did. Tenten couldn't help but feel giddy and guilty at the same time. She rarely did anything that Neji disagreed with, but desperate times call for desperate measures. She wasn't about to let any of her own people die without doing something to help them out.

Before she could talk herself into going back, she saw Lee who was patiently waiting for her. He nodded to her and started walking. She ran after him.

"How did you-" Tenten stuttered, shocked by his appearance. Lee smiled.

"You're my friend. I saw the same desire to help out in your eyes that I feel right now." he said easily. Tenten made it to his side, a small smile on her face.

"If you know me so well, does Neji?" she asked. "Is he going to figure out that we... well... ditched him?" He shrugged.

"He expects certain things out of people instead of accepting what they do or want. He's pretty demanding... but he'll figure it out. Come on, let's go." They jumped up, taking to the trees. It would only take them fifteen minutes to reach the bridge at their even pace.

Seven minutes later, Neji felt his eye twitch in annoyance. _'Dammit. They left.'_ He turned to the bridge and took off after them at double speed. _'They're tempting fate to pass them a bad hand.'_

In eight minutes time, Tenten and Lee would reach the bridge and Neji would be there two minutes after. What will Team Gai see? A lot of things can happen in eight minutes.

**Yes, I do realize this chapter is a bit on the short side compared to my usual, but hey. It works. It's not_ too_ bad of a cliffhanger, right? (*nudge nudge* *wink wink*) xD So….Yeah.**

**Thanks to:**

**Akashi Ookami**

**Sayonara Yasashii Akumu **

**Amy Saelee **_(Very, very random, but I'll take it. O.o)_

**cute**

**Interesting**

**Digital brownies to you guy xD And to you newer readers…Review please! It's like a motivation booster. No wait… It is a motivation booster. xD I'll be explaining some of Ammy's abilities very soon! Stay tuned!**

**P.S. I've forgotten to do this for a while now.**

**~OkamiAmaterasu2015 signing off~**


	8. Chapter 8: Let's End This

**Hi all! Happy to see from me again? I knew it xD So, Here's the second installment of the final wave battle. I hope you enjoy it, it took a while. I've just finished AP exams and they were… pretty terrible. I personally dislike how I wrote this, and I would absolutely love some feedback. So please review with your thoughts on this chapter, and enjoy what I have to offer. xD See you at the footnote! **

**Chapter 8: Let's End This**

He could be optimistic; after all, his opponent's main weapon was at the bottom the body of water that they were fighting over. Not to mention that half of the dogs that had suddenly burst out of the ground at Kakashi's summon latched on to Zabuza, wounding him enough to slow him down, but not enough to hold him in place. It was also seven against one, thanks to his kage bunshin skill. But...

How could he be optimistic when his opponent looked at him with the gaze of unholy glee at the thought of ripping into him? In some ways, the man in front of him… no… the devil, was much scarier than Kyuubi could ever be. There was nothing Naruto had that Zabuza wanted. Zabuza was a mystery, thus a threat. The only thing that Naruto knew about the mist nin was his greatest weakness, Haku.

But, ironically, the man's only weakness was also his strongest tool.

"Hm..." Zabuza said, breaking the silence. He lifted one of his bloody arms with the other. He let go of it, watching absently as it flopped down to his side. The summon dogs had disappeared, but the damage they had caused on Zabuza was extreme. One of the more massive dogs tore away some of the muscles in the mist nin's arm, making it hard for him to move it. He locked eyes with Ammy, the child that managed to capture him the last time. She seemed to clench her fists as the flames, that Naruto had grown used to seeing, flickered into existence again, licking up her arms as she slid into a loose fighting stance.

Glancing over his shoulder, Naruto saw that Haku wasn't in any better shape. Both of his legs were bleeding and he moved with a slight limp. It didn't stop him from teleporting from ice mirror to ice mirror, something that annoyed the hell out of Kakashi.

"Hey kid." Naruto turned back to the older man, his eyes guarded but worried. But the mist nin was grinning at Ammy, nothing pleasant about the smile or what it promised. "I'm bored. Provide me with some entertainment."

Anger at the disregard thrown his way temporarily shoving fear into the back seat, Naruto charged Zabuza, intent on doing just that. Ammy's yells for him to stop were ignored for the time being. He slid to a stop in front of the older man (somewhere in the back of his mind, he recognized it as an extremely stupid thing to do, pulling a direct attack), shifted his weight forward and hurled himself at the other ninja.

Every hit thrown, either punch or kick, was dodged or blocked with a lazy hand. Zabuza's eyes glowed humorously at Naruto's anger at not being able to hit the other ninja. Naruto's fist lashed out, only to be caught in a firm grip.

"Hmph. You're boring." Zabuza muttered, looking a bit distracted. His eyes were over Naruto's shoulder, watching Haku and Kakashi fight. Something flickered in his eyes, and then disappeared to surprise at the small balls of white flame flying for his face. That shock soon faded veil of an evil smirk. Zabuza ducked, and let go of Naruto's fist, letting it fall to the blonde's side. Naruto started to move back. Zabuza's one good arm raised in front of him, tightened into a fist, then slammed into Naruto's stomach, a blow that the blonde was only half ready for.

The blonde slid back, barely keeping his balance as he put a hand over his now cracked ribs. He hissed in pain, feeling the ribs digging into his lungs, but a strange heat suddenly surging in him both numbed the intense pain and mended the bone. "Damn it!" he gritted out.

Zabuza suddenly tensed seeming to flinch. "Ugh... you're such a bastard." Ammy murmured, from behind Zabuza, brandishing her blood streaked tanto **(1)**. "Kind of hard to be entertaining when the person in front of you is watching someone else." With a weak laugh, she found herself completely drained of emotion.

Zabuza spun around and aimed a kick at Ammy, successfully nicking her in the left leg, disorienting her. He then created several simple bunshin clones to confuse Naruto while he slipped from shadow to shadow to stealthily attack the boy and his shadow clones while evading Ammy. Naruto's eyes shifted around, warily taking in the clouds that his clones exploded into when they were attacked. The last two crowded around him in an attempt to tighten their defenses. A hard blow to his back both revealed the presence of the real mist nin and also knocked him away from his clones.

He skidded across the ground on his stomach before he pushed off of the ground with his hand to get up. His clones had jumped away from Zabuza, but kept the mist nin in clear sights. Naruto stood, a frown on his face. He idly wiped the blood that had slipped out of his mouth.

Ammy had traded a few blows with Zabuza. She crouched as she crept up to Zabuza, aiming a kick at the back of his knees. He side stepped it and followed up with a kick directed to her head. She blocked, but was still thrown back from the strength of his assault. He glanced down at his smoldering shoe. She growled, and launched a jet of flame towards Zabuza as she jutted her two fists out, one over the other, only to have him dodge again before she landed on the ground again, skidding a few feet. She winced while rubbing her arms.

"Hmm." Naruto mumbled, meeting eyes with Zabuza. The mist nin gave him a bored half glare, apparently liking Kakashi as a better fighting partner. He met Naruto straight on, his first couple of swings missing. The blonde blocked the next lazy swipe by catching the older man's arm before he could hit him.

"Normally, I don't fight handicapped people." Naruto said cheekily, referring to the problem Zabuza seemed to be having with the use of only one arm. Finding that the blonde, who lost that shaky look of fear in his eyes, had a grip of steel, Zabuza glared at the petite ninja. Naruto decided to throw what had been the most important question in his life back at that nin, the simple question from his best friend that had made him into the person he was.

"Do you have a precious person?" the blonde asked, arching an eyebrow. Zabuza finally yanked his arm out of the boy's grasp, moving a few feet away cautiously. "A person you would kill for, kill yourself even?"

The mist nin's eyes narrowed. "No." he said sharply. "A true ninja doesn't have a heart."

"We differ on ideas of 'true ninjas' Before one is a ninja, they are human... But… you know you do." Ammy's calm voice echoed from behind Zabuza before she appeared by Naruto. She angled her head towards the two battling ninjas further down the bridge.

Unlike the battles that Naruto had been getting into (stop and go traffic, really. No one ever took him seriously), the fight between Kakashi and Haku was without pauses or breaks between. The two ninjas performed a deadly dance around each other, one that threatened immediate demise if one stumbled on a step. Sparks flew from throwing weapons that clashed and blood dotted the ground, coming from superficial wounds that both ninjas barely managed to inflict on one another.

Zabuza's eyes followed the direction of Ammy's gesture, his eyes widening slightly at the sight of a cut across the back of Haku's shoulders before he covered it up with a laugh. "And like I said before, you know nothing of the ninja world." he said, tearing his eyes away from the other battle. Haku would be fine. He had gotten out of tougher scrapes before, and with his blood line to aid him, he was unstoppable... right? Zabuza scowled when Naruto seemed to understand everything that flashed in his eyes.

"Well, I see a lot more emotion in you two than you think I do." Ammy murmured as Naruto's nearly forgotten clones formed a semicircle around the two genin. "I don't know why, but maybe….just maybe, if I wasn't in this team, you'd be fighting my teacher right now and my teammates would be fighting your tool. As for my teammates, one of them is bound to be severely injured, and make the other go crazy, almost killing your student." She as a smile twitched at the corners of her lips in response to the sudden flash of anger in Zabuza's eyes. "As for my sensei, he'll manage to kick your ass. Right before the final blow… Do you think that it is entirely impossible that Haku jumps in the way at the last moment, saving you and dying in the same breath? If some asshole defiles Haku's corpse, would it be entirely impossible for you, beaten and broken and utterly pissed off, kill him, using nothing but a kunai?" Zabuza frowned, trying to see that happening in his mind. At first, he thought it was unlikely, but then the pieces began sliding together. He would do such a thing. Haku was the closest thing he had to a son. If the boy died… an ache in his chest made him frown in irritation.

Naruto's eyes became pleading. "Please, just call this stupid battle off. I don't want Haku to die, and although you're an asshole and aren't much to look at, I don't want you to die either." Zabuza twitched, but thought over his words. He did want to fight. He did want to shed blood. But ever since Haku mentioned something about Gatōu and not trusting him, he had been feeling a strong urge to get away from the cunning businessman. All joy that Zabuza got out of his job was suddenly sapped away from him. When he had seen Kakashi, he had been hopeful that the skillful jonin could rekindle his thirst for battle. But it was not to be. Kakashi could do nothing for him, but kill him if they stayed on opposite sides. Zabuza was not stupid.

Zabuza would rather end the battle and call it a day, than end his life because he was overzealous in his fights. He didn't expect that two of the feared Copy Nin's students would willingly give him a way out. Especially since the duo were nothing to wave off in battle, when they were actually trying, of course.

"You're just saying that to end this battle. You're afraid that I'll kill you." the mist nin taunted, but slowly slid out of a defensive position into a more relaxed pose. He placed his good hand over the wound in his arm. Naruto pocketed his kunai, hardly believing that he was having an easier time talking the older man out of a fight than Haku himself. Ammy reached into another one of her pockets and tossed a roll of bandages at the mist nin. Zabuza caught it, expertly bandaging his arm with only the use of his mouth and one of his hands.

"Believe us, we really don't want to fight you." Naruto said truthfully. "We were just paid to do a job."

"Story of my life." Zabuza said with a disappointed sigh. "Haku!" The boy immediately stopped fighting. Kakashi paused in his attack, not the type of person to attack another while their back was to him.

'_What's happening?'_ Kakashi thought, looking over at where Naruto and Zabuza were supposed to be fighting. The fox host was yawning and the last Kasai had pulled up her sleeves was inspecting her bruising arms. The feared mist nin was fussing over the bandages covering his bloody and wounded arm. His eyes widened in comical surprise. _'Dammit, what did I miss?'_

Zabuza sighed, leaving the ends of the bandages to fall where they chose. He looked back up at his student, who was just as baffled as Kakashi. "I cease to understand why I continue on." the older man said. Haku seemed confused, but walked up to his mentor willingly.

"Story of my life." Naruto echoed. "Hell, half the crap that happens in front of me I fail to understand most of the time." Zabuza smirked at the old sounding tone in the blonde's voice. Naruto crossed his arms behind his head, the kage bunshins disappearing when they weren't needed anymore. Ammy had begun to walk away, pulling her sleeves down to cover her arms like before. "That was rather anti-climatic." she said to Haku, smile adorning her face as she rolled her eyes. The boy couldn't help but smile at the shorter genin walking away.

Kakashi walked up to them, wariness in his eyes, but recognizing a retreat. "Truce for now?" he asked. Zabuza shrugged, not caring anymore. Kakashi had awakened a need to defend himself, but nothing could be done to restore his once immense appetite for blood and battles. There would be no returning to Gatōu, that was for sure.

"No going after Tazuna-san?" Kakashi pressed.

"Yeah yeah, whatever." the mist nin waved off casually. He put his hand on Haku's shoulder. The boy smiled. "Let's go."

"NARUTO! AMMY! KAKASHI-SENSEI! GATOU IS HERE!" Sakura shouted, fear as clear as a bell in her loud voice. Naruto dropped his casual stance, immediately turning to look where she was pointing, a movement the other four copied.

Farther down the bridge, right in front of the twenty gap that Tazuna had yet to build, the businessman stood, one hand, untainted from signs and hints that he actually worked for a living, resting on the top of his walking stick. The short man was smirking, his beady eyes hidden behind glasses. Thirty men flanked him, most likely members of one or more of the gangs in Wave Country. Something was sitting next to Gatōu, covered by a gray tarp. Naruto's eyes focused on it, smelling a faint metallic twang from it and something that made his nose feel like it was on fire. He covered his with his arm, inhaling his own scent in hopes to get rid of the other one.

'_What the hell is that?'_

xxxxxxxxx

Tsunami frowned, heaving the barely conscious jonin onto an extra futon. The jonin muttered some nonsense but settled into the bed. Maybe it wasn't such a smart idea to return back to the place that their stalkers had been through, but Gai needed medical attention. She placed a cool wash cloth on the jonin's head, preparing to get him some aspirin if he woke up. Tsunami couldn't say if the older man had a concussion or not, but by the looks of the mangled frying pan, he'd at least have one hell of a headache. Inari ran back in the room.

"I'm done filling our fridge! I can't believe they raided it though," he said, annoyed beyond belief. It was his fridge to raid, dammit!

Tsunami pulled a blanket over Gai. "Alright honey, let me make some food..." she said distractedly."Do we have any broth stashed somewhere?" Inari shrugged, and ran to his room, making sure that none of his stuff was touched.

Tsunami stood, yawning ad she wandered over the kitchen. It had been a very long and exhausting day.

Their house looked pretty trashed, slash marks in the walls, furniture knocked over, and an imprint of somebody's foot on the front door. And, of course, the lack of food on the premises made for very cranky little boys. She walked around; cleaning things up until the kitchen had some sense of order. She grinned when she found that her secret stash of extra strong aspirin hadn't been touched.

They only had some rice, and some ramen left untouched. She smiled at it, strangely happy at the sight of the simple food. Tsunami decided to wait before she made anything. She walked out of the kitchen, looking for her son. '_I should make Inari's favorite…_'

"M-Mom..." she heard her son call, his voice shaking. She walked over to him, put her hand on his shoulder, and looked at what he was looking at. Tsunami took a step back, pulling Inari along with her. Her lips tightened slightly, anger on her face but fear in her eyes.

"What are you doing here!" she called out to the two massive silhouettes, her voice slightly shrill. "This is my home, go away! We aren't accepting visitors!" The mother pushed her son into the house, more worried about his safety than her own.

One of them chuckled. Metal sliding against a sheath, he pulled something out in front of him.

"Samurai!" Inari told his mother hurriedly. "This bad guy... well maybe he wasn't a bad guy 'cause he let me live... he told me that a couple of them were after us!" Tsunami already knew.

"We was lookin' for you." the one who already drew a blade commented, his drawl somewhat foreign. "We needs one of you as a hostage."

"You put up a good chase." the other one said, his dialect being known by Tsunami. He was Wave Country born and bred. "But now it must come to a close."

"Inari." Tsunami whispered, her lips barely moving. "Try and awaken Gai-san. If he doesn't answer your first summon, I want you to run, run like the wind and never look back." Inari gripped the back of her dress with his hands.

"No." he hissed. "I am sick of running! I will no longer be a coward!" Sasuke's annoyed dark eyes glared down at him, daring him to say anything less. But his mother would hear nothing of it.

"Leave, Inari. That is an order." she snapped. "I am sick of running as well. I am sick of hiding, of worrying if my family is going to die in the next few minutes, of being afraid of every little noise I hear!" her voice gentled, becoming less harsh. "They need a hostage. I'll be fine. I promise you this." She looked back at him, her eyes pleading. "I'm begging you. Just leave."

He let go of her dress hesitatingly, big scared eyes looking up at his mother. She whispered her plea once more, and he turned around, running for Gai.

He nearly fell upon the jonin's futon, grabbing the older man's shoulders and shaking him. Yelling that he get up. Gai mumbled and turned around, going back to cuddling his pillow.

Outside, Tsunami stiffly walked to them. "You want a hostage?" she said, her voice void of emotion. "You have one." She gritted her teeth when one of them looked her up and down.

"Yeah... do we ever have a hostage." he said with a lecherous grin.

Back inside, Inari refused to run. He had to get the big lumbering oaf up somehow. Suddenly remembering a scene between two ninjas of Team Seven, he ran back into the kitchen, pouring water into a large cup. The sound of the water moving through the ancient pipes drifted outside.

"We have one hostage, but what about the little guy?" one of them muttered out of the corner of his mouth to his partner. His partner grinned.

"We kill him for sport." he said loud enough for Tsunami to hear. "He's still in the house." She gasped, turning around to go back in. The first caught her around the waist and yanked her back.

"Nope, you're our hostage, remember?" he said with a smirk. "Good hostages stay put."

"Inari!" Tsunami cried, pushing against her captor. "I'll kill myself if you touch him! Then you won't have any hostages!" The samurai closest to her shoved her against the wall roughly, tied her hands together, and stuffed her mouth with a cloth.

"I'd like to see you try."

The boy paused mid step, and then hurried the rest of the way to Gai's futon. He dumped the water on the sleeping jonin. The jonin jumped up, fists in the air. Inari sighed in relief, and filled the now normal jonin in on the situation.

The samurai stormed into the household, messing up what little order that Tsunami had created. They dragged her along with them. "Oh, Inari." one of them said. His voice was sickly sweet. "Your mommy wants to talk to you. Where are you?"

There was a moment of silence before they heard a noise. Grinning, they followed it, fully expecting to find a terrified little boy curled up in a corner somewhere. The Wave Country samurai stopped his partner before they went through the doorway.

"I got this." he said confidently. "How much trouble can one little guy be?" Tsunami stomped on his foot, causing the smirk to fade into a grimace. "But you take care of her." He handed her off to the other samurai. She had worked the fabric out of her mouth. She took in a breath to scream, hoping that her muffled cry would be heard. Eyes widening in alarm(not wanting to alert any stray bystander or ninja who cared), the other samurai punched her in the stomach.

Instead of the cry for help, there was a low wheezing gasp for air. Tsunami dropped to her knees, tears falling silently. Why did she feel the need to return home? Gai could have rested just as well in the woods. Why did she have to make so many decisions that ended up hurting the people she loved?

She cringed when the samurai went in the room, knowing he'd find an unconscious Gai, if anything. They'd kill him just because he was there. She expected a scream, a yell, some sort of petrified cry. What she did hear was the samurai muttering.

"What the-" Suddenly, the samurai was chucked through the paper thin walls. His partner kicked Tsunami aside, quickly drawing his weapon. A green blur caught the foreign samurai's attention, along with the terrifying sight of his sword falling to pieces.

"N-ninja?" he whispered, head turning to follow. A blow in the back of his cranium made him fall over on the shattered pieces of his blade. They cut into his skin shallowly, though he was saved from the pain by blissful unconsciousness.

Tsunami pushed herself up, looking over at her savior and her son that lingered a little behind. Her son pushed past the other man, grabbing a piece of the shattered metal and slicing the ropes that bound her hands together. The jonin struck a pose.

"Like the phoenix, the beautiful beast of Konoha rises from the ashes!" Gai called out dramatically, a random view of the sunset behind him. It drooped when he saw the damages. "Oh no.. I'm going to have to clean this up, aren't I?" Her good humor revived at the sight of the samurai fallen, Tsunami handed him and a pouting but happy Inari brooms and dust pans.

"Clean away, boys."

xxxxxxx

Sakura peered around the corner of the crate. Tazuna sat on his knees, bouncing in a show of nervousness. Sasuke was kneeling against the side of the crate, staring out to his teammates in frustration. He wanted to help more, his fists clenched and unclenched in anticipation. The soldier pill had filled him with energy, and he was determined to help out in some way or form. He then seemed to realize that he had zoned out, his thoughts not on the situation at hand. "Gatōu…. When'd he get here?"

Sakura glanced at him, eyes wide with irritation, as she let out a huff of air. She chuckled, shaking her head, her eyes never leaving the scene before her. "They stopped fighting and Gatōu is here." Sakura said, leaning over to look at the crowd that faced the four ninjas. "Gatōu has something covered up by his side. I think it's... a machine of some kind." A slight sound of something landing on the crate above them got their attention.

"What the-" Sasuke murmured, trying to see what had landed on top of the huge metal box. After a moment, Tenten peeked over, silently waving before she turned back to see what Gatōu was doing. "Team Gai!"

"What?" Tazuna asked, most confused. Sakura filled him in, telling the older man that they were another team from Konoha that was most likely sent after them for back up. Sasuke scowled, not liking the thought of the arrogant Hyuuga, helping them out.

"Heh, you're no devil." Gatōu sneered at Zabuza. "You're a baby devil!" The men behind him cackled at his joke.

Kakashi leaned over slightly. "I smell gun powder." The two mist nins nodded grimly. _'That's what made my nose hurt.' _Naruto thought.

"What do you want?" Zabuza growled at Gatou. As a group, both pairs of teacher and student began edging backward.

"I wish to introduce you to my best warrior yet." He took off the tarp with the walking stick, revealing what was underneath. It jutted outward, a cylinder like metal that was housing several more cylinder shaped metal rods. It sat on a stand, pointed slightly upward.

Back on top of the crate, Lee frowned at the strange metal contraption. "What is that?" he asked his team mate.

"It's a western weapon, one that they use to decide battles because they are in lack of ninjas. It's called a Gatling gun, I think." Tenten said, her extensive knowledge of weapons coming in handy.

"Ninjas are not needed anymore." Gatōu said arrogantly. "The weapon of the new ages is money! As long as one has money, they are powerful. Let me so you how much my money has improved my strength." He stood behind the Gatling gun. He gazed over his choice of targets. The four ninjas in front of him were nearly level with the man he wanted dead, Tazuna. If their reflexes were fast enough, they might be able to dodge. The two ninjas on top of the crate caught his eye. He swiveled the gun to point at them. "Like so!"

Lee and Tenten's eyes widened when they saw the gun aimed at them, even more so when they saw him firing it. Their legs felt like they had been encased in stone, preventing them from moving. As if in slow motion, they watched the bullets coming for them, unable to move and only able to watch in horror as their deaths descended upon them.

A hand clamped firmly on each of their shoulders, yanking them back between the two crates. Lee and Tenten fell, landing nearly on top of Tazuna and Sakura while their savior landed gracefully by the Uchiha.

"You are foolish." They looked up, surprised eyes taking in the stone cold eyes of their other team mate.

"Neji!"

The rattling sound of bullets hitting metal had not faded. Gatōu turned the gun on the four ninjas. Kakashi, Naruto and Ammy jumped for the space that their fellow ninjas were hiding, the latter turning back at the last moment. Zabuza and Haku were wounded from the battle before and couldn't get to shelter fast enough. Haku pushed Zabuza into safety, eyes closing in preparation of the white hot pain of the bullets hitting him.

However, he had prepared for nothing. Someone tackled him from behind, shoving him into the little space near Zabuza.

Something wet and warm trickled into Haku's clothes as he impacted with the floor, whoever that tackled him landing on top of him.

Finally, the rattling stopped. Gatōu laughed wickedly, knowing that he had at least gotten one person.

"Come out come out, little ninjas." he nearly purred.

Zabuza reached over and pulled off the weight that had been holding Haku down, with care. Haku pushed himself up, eyes widening when he saw who it was. Surprise wearing off, he moved forward, immediately pressing his hands over bleeding wounds.

"Where's Ammy?" Sasuke demanded of Kakashi and Naruto. The older man started to gesture to his right before he realized the spot that was supposed to be occupied was empty.

"Sakura-san!" the pink haired girl lifted her head at the sound of her name, not recognizing the voice at first. She turned her head and saw Haku, mask less and trying to gain her attention. He looked desperate and his hands were bloody. "I need your help!"

Neji looked over her shoulder, sneering at the mist nin. "You're the enemy. Why should she help you?" His hand griping the back of her dress prevented her natural instinct to go help Haku.

Haku's eyes clouded over. "Maybe I should rephrase that..." he moved out of their line of vision, revealing who he needed help with.

"Ammy!" Sakura said in horror. The girl was leaned against one of the crates, her legs sticking out in front of her. A wound in her shoulder and in her side bled rapidly. She was only partially conscious, one hand trying to cover the wound in her side to no avail. Zabuza crouched next to her, looking a little confused and out of his field. Sakura started to move toward her, only to be yanked back by Neji.

The younger genin almost started to yell at the Hyuuga, only to realize that he wasn't trying to keep her from helping out her team mate. Five holes smoked slightly in the ground where she had been standing a moment ago. He had saved her.

"T-thank you." she managed shakily. Neji made a noise in his throat, then let go of her and walked back. Lee came to her side, as well as, to her great surprise, Sasuke.

"Okay, so the green girl is bleeding to death and every time we try to send someone over, they'll be riddled with bullets." Tenten said with a forcefully light voice, her trembling fingers giving her away. "What do we do now?" Seeing that all the genin and Kakashi had their backs to her, she looked questioningly over at Tazuna. He waved his hands in defense.

"Don't look at me! I'm just a humble bridge builder."

Kakashi straightened, giving Sakura a serious look with his one visible eye. "Distraction." he said to Tenten, although he was focused on his student. She blinked up at him when he then addressed her. "I don't know why he believes you can help, although I have my suspicions. You have ten seconds." He created nine clones, which darted in every direction but the direction that Sakura needed to go to.

She froze, hearing the awful sound of the gun firing before she realized what he was doing. She ran to the other side of the bridge, clearing the twelve feet before Gatōu could fire the gun at her, sliding to a stop by Haku. Sakura immediately dropped to her knees and took off Ammy's sweater and shirt, revealing her tightly bound upper torso_. 'Chest binds?'_

"This one punched a hole right through." she said, looking at the shoulder wound. She reached into one of her pouches, pulling out a vial. She poured a small amount into her hand, and then put it on the entrance and exit wounds of the shoulder injury. Ammy hissed, then bit down on her lip in pain. "It's not too bad, actually. Just bleeding a lot. This stuff should prevent any infections." Not having any bandages on hand, Sakura tore up bits of her dress to dress the wound.

"Why isn't she healing it already?" Haku asked gently, remembering how she healed her sprained wrist mere hours ago. Sakura's hands paused. _'Why?'_

As if she answered Sakura's call, the brunette's eyes opened slightly. Sakura winced, the last thing she wanted was for her friend to be awake and in so much pain.

Ammy grinned humorlessly. "Healing is a skill that gets better with use. It's… all about remembering." she said, answering the mist nin's question. "If I break a bone, my body and chakra remembers how it was healed and speeds up the process. If I cut myself, the two remember how it was once healed." Her eyes met Sakura's. She had a feeling that there was something else involved with it that Ammy wasn't willing to tell her about.

And she was right. The Kasai clan was once renowned to have almost legendary elemental chakra control, as well as healing chakra. This was a reason for why there were so few left, after all. Their powers derived from a much darker source and time though, when demons roamed the land. The people, in the past, were terrified of their strange finesse in elemental chakra, almost bending the elements as if they were some kind of demon of the elements. The people never seemed to realize that all bloodlines originated from demons. The Kasai were attacked during the first shinobi war, to eliminate their threat. The clan that lay on the outskirts of Konoha drastically shrunk. That small remainder of the clan had continued to grow smaller, until they arrived at Konohagakure. They believed that were destined to grow larger in the walls of Konoha… only to be reduced to two people ten years later.

But back to her healing…The memory of how the body healed in certain situations not only came from Ammy, but also from her ancestors' life energy, or chakra. The ancestors that managed to pass on their lineage been attacked by demons and fellow humans in every way possible, and had managed to pass down their chakra's 'memories'. That made it almost impossible for Ammy to get an injury that she could not heal.

The strongest of her ancestry had their organs had been impaled, they had been beaten around like a club, almost frozen to death, almost crushed to death... the injuries that the people had sustained even before they decided to keel over would have made the coldest ninja wince in sympathy. But, adapting to those injuries and finding a way to heal them faster alongside their elemental prowess had been the Kasai's specialty and part of what made them so formidable.

That power had been extended to Ammy, giving her almost invulnerability if she had a moment or so to activate her chakra to heal. This impressive healing technique has a few drawbacks though. The healing could only be fulfilled at the cost of a third of her reserves no matter how insignificant her injuries, and can only be when she isn't actively moving. So if she were to be stabbed through the chest, she'd have to stop moving to activate the ability. If she had a paper cut, and desperately wanted it to heal, she'd have to waste a significant chunk of her reserves in the process (something she'd never do). One hit kills, extremely fast attacks, and mental attacks were something that the ability couldn't help Ammy with, either. If she had no time to heal, then she'd die. But...

"I've never been shot before." Ammy muttered with a half smile. '_And neither has my family. I really can't tell if that's good or bad._' "Doesn't that suck for me?"

"It isn't all that serious!" Sakura tried to assure her. Ammy smiled gently at her, appreciating her attempt to make herself feel better. She removed her hand from the sluggishly bleeding wound in her side.

"I think it missed my kidney." she said, trying to make light of it. "But the bullet's still in there." Sakura had a look on her face that was a mix between total disgust and horror.

Haku moved forward, sensing her unwillingness to dig the bullet out of her friend. "I will help." he said quietly. He met Ammy's eyes. "Do you trust me to help?"

Ammy looked at him for a long hard moment before smiling again. "Yeah sure. Go ahead. Rip me open." Sakura looked faintly green. Haku gave her a look for needlessly grossing his team mate out. Ammy replied with a chuckle and winced instantly regretting the unnecessary movement. "Note to self… Do not laugh when there is a hole punched through your body… It hurts more than it should…" Ammy groaned. Haku sighed, amused, before putting his hand over the wound, using his blood line to numb it.

"Is she okay?" Kakashi asked, landing back near the other genin. His shoulder was bleeding, most likely having a close encounter with a bullet. The genin struggled helplessly, not being able to see anything over Haku and Sakura.

"You fools are trying my patience." Gatōu said, annoyed that he didn't get the gray haired ninja who was randomly jumping around. "Do you submit? I'll allow you to live if you work for me for free."

"Always the bargainer." Kakashi said to him, glancing at him around the corner. "I suppose you have nothing against killing kids."

"You're a ninja." Gatōu countered. "You aren't supposed to have emotions while you're on the job."

"Yes, perhaps, but you're not a ninja. The same principles don't apply. Besides..." Stealing one of Ammy's lines, he defended himself and his fellow shinobi. "Before one is a ninja, they are human." At this, Ammy smiled before she bit her lip in pain.

"Where's your honor?" Lee said, angered that one of his friends was hurt. "Attacking people with such a cheap weapon! Come over here and we'll fight like men are supposed to fight: hand to hand!" Tenten and Neji pulled him back before he could jump out from behind their shelter.

Gatōu laughed sinisterly. "Honor? Pride? Morals? These are things that are not needed in the modern world! All that is needed in the modern world is money!" he turned to his men, who had cowered at his show of dominance. "Go; flush them out of their hiding spots!"

One ventured a question. "But... the gun! You'll end up killing-" Gatōu cut him off.

"Anyone who lives through this will split the money that the ones who died were supposed to get!" The bribe was enough to get the men to move. Captiously, they took careful steps toward the ninjas.

"Damn." Kakashi muttered to himself. He directed himself to the ninjas across the twelve foot gap. "You need to hurry!" They looked over, nodding seriously.

Sakura had healed Ammy's wounds with a modified version of a medic jutsu that she had just learned. The bleeding had slowed down a lot even though the wounds had not completely closed. Ammy held a hand out to Haku with a mischievous grin on her face.

"What?" Haku asked, confused by Ammy's show of a delighted smile. She pointed to the bloody bullet that the mist nin had extracted from her, lying by Haku's knee.

"Can I have it as a souvenir?" she asked, hands clasping in front of her and turning the puppy eyes on full effect. Haku ceased to try and understand the strange girl that had helped him, but handed over the bullet. Ammy grinned in contentment, one hand holding the metal slug out in front of her for her viewing pleasure while the other shrugged on her jacket. She left the bloody shirt where it was, deeming it unwearable as she zipped the jacket up.

Haku took one arm while Sakura took the other, pulling the brunette to her shaky feet. Ammy gave the two mist nin concerned looks. "But, your wounds!" Haku looked down at his wounded legs while Zabuza merely scoffed.

"Flesh wounds, brat." he said. "We aren't the ones with holes in our bodies." Ammy stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry.

All of the ninjas jumped out of their hiding spots, dodging henchmen and bullets as they were pushed back. Haku slickened the ground with ice, while Kakashi and Tenten step up simple traps to ward off the hired hands. Sasuke, Naruto, and Lee knocked away any who came to close in between dodging behind crates. Neji went for simple one hit knockouts. Zabuza and Ammy followed Sasuke and Lee's example in a much more brutally efficient way.

Sakura and Haku didn't get too far before they realized something was wrong.

One of the henchmen managed to get past the other shinobi and thrusted a spear at the injured girl, thinking she was the weakest of them all. Sakura gasped, drawing everyone's attention when the spear went right through Ammy's chest. All the shinobi surrounded the henchman, making him realize that the girl he had attacked hadn't been the right one to fight. But that wasn't the reason why Sakura gasped.

What had been Ammy, poofed into Naruto, an annoyed grimace warping his features, and disappeared in a cloud of smoke the second after the spear went through her, or rather him.

Haku immediately tugged Sakura behind one of the crates when the gun went off again, many henchmen falling in their wake. "Where is she?" he asked.

"She switched herself with a clone." Sakura said to him, bewildered. "But why?"

Sasuke gave Naruto a suspicious look before punching him in the face. Hard. Naruto seemed to sigh as he poofed away the second before Sasuke's fist had met him. Sasuke smacked his face with is free hand, other arm still outstretched. "Naruto's not here either."

The henchmen were terrified. Half of them had already died, not by the ninjas' hands, but by their own employer. And something was in the air, teasing at their senses, making them want to run for their lives. It was a feeling that Kakashi recognized and made him immediately tensed.

It was the youki of the Kyuubi that they sensed.

xxxxxxx

Naruto leaned against the crate, staring down at the water so far below. There was barely two feet in length gap between the side of the bridge and the side of the crate. He shuddered, attempting to calm himself down. The sight of his teammate so badly injured enraged him to no belief. He sighed, and rested a hand on the wounded girl's shoulder by his side. She was hunched over, gasping in pain. She had grabbed Naruto earlier, and had shun-shined to their current position.

"You okay?"

"It's better now, although I'll have to wait awhile until it completely heals," Ammy let out a long breath before continuing. "But for now… no more moving. At least too much." She grimaced.

Naruto's thoughts brought to light the one thing that needed to be done in order to complete this mission. He had to get rid of that damn monstrosity of technology. '_But how?'_

Ammy seemed to read his mind as she chuckled. Naruto sent her a strange glance."Hey… Naru?"

"What?"

The girl looked down as she fidgeted, "Now may seriously not be the best time for me to say this… but…I…I know about what you keep at bay. I always knew." She met Naruto's eyes, and watched as confusion swirled into fear and anguish.

"Y-you know?" He stammered. His expression drifted to rage as he growled, "Well? Are you gonna call me a demon like everybody else? Are you not gonna be my friend anymore?" His eyes snapped shut, willing the tears away as he clenched his fists. His only friend…his best friend being scared of him? That hurt more than being stabbed by a thousand kunai. Not hearing a reaction from his teammate, he looked up, preparing for some kind of cold look, only to be met with an annoyed and slightly amused glint in her eyes. He frowned with confusion at this unanticipated reaction.

"Did you not hear what I said at all? I _always _knew. Even when I was little." She deadpanned, emphasizing the always as she rolled her eyes. Her gaze grew comforting as she hugged Naruto's stunned form. "And I'm still your best friend. You, being the asshole of a tenant's container, don't change that. I can see past the end of my nose. You're just a kid like me, lonely, orphaned, and forced to fend for ourselves. I know you. You are a nice, intelligent, no matter how little of it you show, strong and determined boy who couldn't hurt any innocent person, friend or not." She squeezed the taller boy tighter. "When I'd see you in Konoha, I don't see a demon child, I see a kid, scorned for something that the other assholes don't understand. And you don't let that get to you. You never did. That's why I admire you."

Naruto felt strange. He wanted to cry, but he wasn't sad, he was happy. He was oh-so happy. He trembled as he relaxed, and let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. He let out a small sob as he wrapped his arms around his friend, hugging back. His body wracked with a silent sob, as Ammy soothingly rubbed his back. She whispered, "Shhhhhh…. It's alright…..it's okay….I'm here." Naruto stepped back, rubbing his eyes as his crying subsided. When he looked up, he was met by a comforting smile, which quickly changed into a smirk.

"Now that you got that out of your system …Like I said, this really wasn't the time, but…don't be such a wuss," Ammy said in her still soft voice. "Try to use some of that power that you have. Just a little bit of youki here and there…" As if the girl knew that he was going to protest, she interrupted. "Please! This is the only chance we have to take out that bastard Gatōu! No one would look down on you if you saved Wave right? We have no other choice!" The girl pleaded.

"But…What if… I lose control? What if I let the demon in my out?"

"You won't. I've read that you have a stronger seal to separate your mind from Kyuubi's. You will not go crazy, though you will be affected a bit in your way of thinking and reacting."

"How do you know all this?"

"…Now's not the time. I'll tell you when we get back home."

Naruto sighed once more, giving in. He understood that they were all going to be in trouble if they were kept under fire for much longer. 'For my friends,' he thought as he delved deeper into his mind. He found himself in a dark sewer, standing in knee deep water in front of a massive gate. He squinted up at the gate and made out a huge slip of paper residing on it.

"**Release me weakling…. Tear off the seal…" **an evil voice reverberated throughout the room.

Naruto growled, "What do you take me for? A total dumbass?"

The voice chuckled, not nearly as darkly as Naruto had anticipated. He wandered up closer to the cage and peered in. A massive gaping maw swept down towards Naruto's head. Naruto noticed at the last moment and pulled his head back, just as the teeth closed over where his had just been. "**Hmmm…Good reflexes, gaki,"** Kyuubi murmured appraisingly, his tails swishing back and forth.

Naruto stared at the demon, confused. "Hey aren't you supposed to be 'GRAWR LET ME DESTROY THE WORLD AND THE HUMANS BECAUSE THEY'RE INFERIOR!'?" Naruto asked with a crude impersonation of what he believed his tenant was supposed to sound like. "Why are you all mellow and stuff?"

Kyuubi seemed to sigh in frustration.** I may be the strongest bijju, but I am not crazy enough to attempt destruction of the shinobi countries. As much as I would love to destroy you puny insects, you are needed for the balance of the world. The attack on Konoha all those years ago was not… of my doing.**

Naruto glared in anger at the demon. "And I'm supposed to believe that? Please. We all know that-"

**SHUT UP GAKI. Listen well. I was manipulated by a weakling of an Uchiha. That is all that happened. It is the most shameful of things for me to admit to this. **Kyuubi growled**.**

Naruto flinched. "S-sorry," he whispered, trembling at the vast killing intent that seemed to constrict around his body.

Kyuubi seemed to grin, and though it was meant to be friendly, it sent shivers down Naruto's spine.

**Now what is this about your needing of power? **He seemed to smirk, baring his fangs to the boy in front of him.

"How… how'd you know?" Naruto questioned.

**I just know. Someday I'll explain to you. Like how that vixen of yours will tell you how she knew of your 'dark secret'. There is more to what she had told you. **The demon suddenly stood and begun to walk to the back of his own cage, each step echoing and causing tremors through out Naruto's mindscape. He seemed to curl into a comfortable position and lie down before affixing Naruto with a fiery gaze.

"Ummm… Okay. Wait…. Vixen?" Naruto echoed as he blushed at the allusion.

The fox hefted a paw to its snout, and seemed to sigh, annoyed. ** Ignore that. Here. Use it well brat.**

As Naruto was violently thrown out of his mindscape, crackling energy appeared around his body as some of his chakra swirled and combined with the youkai. He summoned some of his mixed energy to help keep himself from giving in to the animalistic side of the power. The mixed energy would act like a barrier between his mind and the youkai, keeping it from altering his thinking processes too much. It was the only protection Naruto had against the demonic energy completely taking him over, though weak it was against youkai and easily forced through. Then Kyuubi sent in his own youkai.

Slight physical changes came with the surge in power, none that Naruto paid attention to, besides the annoying itch of his eyes as the pupils slitted, and the eyes turned red. The marks on his face widened and lengthened, having more of the appearance of faint whiskers against Naruto's tan cheeks. His hair fluffed out, becoming less tamed and more wild. He opened his mouth, feeling the growth of his unusually long canines into fangs.

Ammy took in the changes with a wide eyed look and an awed smile. "So, looks like you got him to listen right?" She seemed a bit giddy.

"Yeah. He's not as bad as people say he is."

"I know."

He gave Ammy a strange look. His nose twitched, taking in the intoxicating scents of blood and fear. The rattling noise of bullets hitting metal and the more sickening noise of it hitting flesh made him wince.

'_Block. Protect. Pack in danger_.' Naruto scowled, pushing back the instinctive thoughts. But whatever it was, his more primal side or the youki itself, it was right about that.

"I gotta block that damn thing... somehow." He pushed away from the crate, and then gave it a look, seeing its promise. "Alrighty then!" He clapped his hands together then started pushing the huge storage box.

"Hope that there's nothing in here that's needed," Ammy chuckled as she channeled some chakra to her hands and helped push the crate. She winced, and then continued to walk.

Everyone was startled at the sight of one of the metal crates sluggishly crawling across the width of the bridge, seemingly without any aid. It screeched to a stop in the middle of the two previous crates, creating a massive metal shield against Gatōu's gun. The businessman apparently noticed, for he cursed darkly and then screamed for the rest of his henchmen to off the ninjas.

Without bullets whizzing over their heads, the ninjas found it ridiculously easy to knock back the henchmen, though the henchmen's numbers were far above their own.

Several of the hired hands noticed Naruto walking slowly to the middle of the bridge, the injured girl trailing behind him, and a reddish aura hugging his form rather oddly. He turned around, showing his back to them as he observed the crate that he had shoved into place by himself. Only one had the courage to attack.

'_Enemy. Crush, destory!'_

Everyone froze at the terrifying sight. The man didn't get within ten feet of Naruto before he was scooped up by a large red paw completely composed of the strange chakra that was whipping around Naruto. The paw chucked the man away from its owner before retreating back to wrap around Naruto's arm. The blonde hadn't even moved.

Naruto had barely pushed back the urge to kill the man.

'_What the hell!_' Sasuke thought, staring at Naruto's back. The blonde turned his head slightly, one red slitted eye meeting the Uchiha's darker eyes. The corner of his mouth hiked up, exposing a long white fang. Naruto turned back to the crate, his stance sliding into a more offensive pose.

"Gatōu!" Naruto bellowed, his voice rough. "You've got three seconds to get the hell away from that murder device, or your life ends." His foot slid back, his arm extending away from his body. The red energy started condensing around his arm. "1..." The energy began to change into a massive claw. "2..." With a sudden flash of heat, the claw glowed white and had flames wrapping and spinning rapidly a few inches above Naruto's arm. Ammy was behind him, arm raised, and melding her own chakra into the Kyuubi's. Naruto rasied his head and looked at his friend, a confused look in his eyes. Kakashi paled when he realized what was going to happen. "3! Kumiawase: Akuma Fureā!"

Naruto slammed the claw into the crate, the combination of heat from the youkai and fire going right through. Nothing much happened on his side of the makeshift barrier, but the jutsu's effects were clearly felt by Gatōu when the chakra ripped through the back of the crate, bringing strong and powerful waves of heat that would have melted him to a pile of goop had he not run to the side. But the same could not be said for his toy.

The Gatling gun was lifted and thrown to the bottom of the water below, the melded together metal cooling rapidly in the frigid water. Gatōu whimpered, his eyes frozen on the torn metal of the crate.

Naruto yanked his hands out of the metal, looking pleased with himself. The youkai receded.

"That was pretty pointless." Sasuke said, an eyebrow twitching. All he saw a barely a scratch on the surface of the crate. A weight on his head made him look up at the hand's owner.

"The effects of that jutsu can only be seen on the other side," Kakashi said gravely, "You should go see."

Tenten exchanged a look with Neji, one that made the latter activate his blood line. Pearl like eyes light up with the surge of chakra, veins popping out of the side of his head. What he saw made him nearly gasp in surprise, but he reined in that urge. He released the jutsu.

"He's right." Neji said impassively.

Sakura paid no attention to them, instead she ran up to Ammy. She lazily turned around, looking at her with heavy lidded eyes.

"Hiya, Sakura-san." she mumbled. "Nice weather we have been having, yeah?" She hit her in the back of the head.

"Baka!" she snapped. "What are you jumping around like an idiot for? You'll end up reopening the wounds and then what good will you be to us!" Ammy grinned and flicked her nose. She flinched, and then glared at the tired girl.

"That's an interesting way you have of showing concern, you shrew." she said, her face all too happy for Sakura to take the insult personally. Sakura pretended that she was hurt and was about to snap back at Ammy when she turned to look towards Gatōu's location and Naruto suddenly turned around, sensing something that she couldn't. The red energy suddenly formed around him again, making Sakura step back in surprise. The temperature had raised at least ten degrees, she was sure. But since when did regular chakra have a temperature?

"Naru.. Hey, where the hell are you going!" Sakura yelled, biting off her question when she saw him leap gracefully over the crate. She followed him, with Ammy's arm draped over her shoulders, not very surprised when she was not the only one.

Gatōu, sure that he had already pissed his pants, scrambled up to his feet and took off in a run for his boat. A sight even more terrifying than the flaming tornado that nearly ripped him to pieces met his sight. One of the ninjas, a smaller one he might have scoffed at before, landed in front of him before he could get very far. It wasn't until Gatōu had looked him over twice that he truly felt terror.

"D-demon." he whispered, falling on his rear. Naruto grinned, his fangs flashing, and grabbed the front of the cruel businessman's suit.

"Let's talk deals, shall we?"

This is an incredibly stupid thing for me to do, but here goes. The katana has now been changed into a tanto just because I realized that a katana is much too bulky for a speed and stealth based fighter such as Ammy.

Kumiawase: Akuma Fureā - Combination: Demonic Flames

**So the next chapter will be wrapping up the entire arc, so it'll be short. The one after that will be a plunge into a different situation. I have to include some more stuff about Ammy anyways, like the geisha stuff, and integrate it into the plot. I mean, what good would it be to have some ideas for something, but never use them? So yeah.**

**Back to my tirade. I really hate how I tried to pull of Kyuubi. He's too nice. I think I've been reading too many 'Kyuubi respects Naruto' fics and that dampened my portrayal of the 'evil murdering demon'. I have no other way of writing the guy though…**

**I also hate how I described the bloodline thing. I mean, I think it's ingenious; I mean I wrote it soooo… I've yet to develop a name for the ability as well as some other stuff. My thinking process while writing this was, NO EYE RELATED TECNIQUES. I had the fire stuff planned already, but the healing thing? I struggled with that. **

**In my rendition of Naruto, I have all bloodlines originating from demons. No matter how 'pure' and 'holy' a clan believes themselves to be, they are still related to demons. The ones with doujutsu and the Kasai clan all have more deeply ingrained connections to demons and spirits, though the Kasai are the ones that are most aware. The Kasai are more connected to Celestials than the typical clan, controlling powers on the less dark side, but still capable of using them for evil. Meh.**

**And yeah. That is the jist of my rant. Thanks to those of you that read through the whole Author's note, thanks to those who favorited and added this to their alerts, and thanks to my reviewers:**

**Sayonara Yasashii Akumu**

**Strife666**

**Akashi Ookami**

**Wubwubwub**

**Here's a slice of cake. Enjoy. And seriously. Review. I'm starting to get discouraged.**


	9. Chapter 9: Wrapping It Up

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I own Ammy. **_

**Chapter 9: And the excitement dies down…**

Tittering laugher was heard in the clearing around Dead Man's Lake, first loud and uncertain, then more free as their courage grew. Nearly the entire village had turned out for the event, one that townspeople would be talking about for generations to come.

Gai stood next to Tsunami and Inari, sulking. The taijutsu specialist had be all geared up to throw his new good deed in the masked nin's face only to find out that Kakashi had been in more danger and had somehow managed to get two of the enemies to make a truce. He was cheered up a little when Tsunami had hugged him and thanked him for helping out, but when he turned to smirk at Kakashi, the other jonin had his nose buried in his perverted book. So he sulked, annoyed that he hadn't been able to awe his rival with his skills.

Kakashi's attention had been drawn from his book out onto the surface of the lake. He sweat dropped, wondering whether or not he should stop the event from taking place. Although it was highly amusing, he was sure that there was a rule or two somewhere that spoke against what was happening.

Sasuke leaned against a tree, faintly amused eyes watching the proceedings. He held the package that Ammy had carelessly tossed at him with a smirk and an insult. "Wouldn't want those delicate arms of yours to get scarred. Happy belated birthday, broody." He had opened it to find two leather arm protectors that were a little bloody. He would have insulted the girl for bleeding on his gift, but somehow, the thought of his gift being in Ammy's jacket when she nearly bled to death, and then the brunette's clear want for Sasuke to have them made the Uchiha feel quite the opposite of what it took for him to insult his team mate. She had apparently seen it. "Don't cry, you dork." she had said, flicking the darker boy's nose as a cute smile adorned her face. This brought on some blushing before Ammy went to go watch Naruto 'negotiate'.

Sakura sat at his feet, several children crowding around her. Despite her loud nature around anything that had nothing to do with Sasuke, she had a gift with children. Within a matter of moments, she had taken all of the lost and wandering children in the crowd under her wing and quietly entertained them, either with answers to questions or stories. Every time she looked up at the lake, she'd smirk lightly, then return back to the kids.

Neji leaned against another tree, his back to the lake instead of facing it like Sasuke. His eyes were closed, but anyone who knew him knew that he was probably watching the proceedings as diligently as the townspeople. Tenten sat in the branch above him, a grin on her face.

Lee sat down on the grass a little ways away from Neji, sulking as much as Gai. He had wanted to sit next to Sakura but when the Uchiha, her team mate, had given him a frosty glare when he came close, Lee backed off. He knew that he could probably beat the genius, but there was just something about him that made Lee rather to back away.

The two mist nin were the only ones given ample 'bubble' space. Although the townspeople knew that the two mist nin were there on peaceful terms, they still remembered that they had worked for Gatōu. Any speech directed toward them was strictly polite but distant. They both looked tired and were heavily bandaged, courtesy of Sakura (her back pack had tons of bandages, too bad that she didn't think to bring it to the bridge). She had managed to save Zabuza's arm but he wouldn't be using it for a while. It hung in a cast gently resting against his chest as of then.

Haku stayed standing by Zabuza's side, silently keeping his promise to himself to keep his teacher safe. Calm brown eyes followed the proceedings on the lake, his lips curving when he thought justice was being down, but in a slightly less violent way than he was used to.

Zabuza yawned. He was bored, much preferring if Gatōu could be handed to him and then... his grin was devilish... then they could have some fun.

Ammy was sitting nearest to the spectacle, her legs hanging over a large branch, swinging merrily. She was wrapped tightly with bandages, just like Zabuza, and she sported a massive grin. She was still wearing just her jacket over the bandages, seeing no point in buying a new one for the time being.

It certainly wasn't the crowd of ninjas that made the townspeople so amused. It was what was happening out on the surface of the lake. It was fairly cruel, some that were not familiar with the situation would argue, but to the townspeople it was merely the businessman's medicine being thrown back at him.

"GYAHHHHHHHH!" he shrieked. He was hanging upside down, his captor's grip on his ankle the only thing that kept him airborne. "I CAN'T SWIMMM!"

"That should be the last thing you should be worrying about!" Inari shouted from the shore, a grin on his face. The townspeople laughed outright. "Leave him for the reptiles, Naruto! They're hungry!" Naruto laughed before turning to look down at Gatōu.

"This place... it's called Dead Man's Lake. It's infested with alligators." his captor told him cheerfully. Gatōu froze, looking straight down. Something dark was rising to the surface quickly. A fearsome face became visible, a gaping maw that snapped at his head.

"KYAHHH!" he screamed when the alligator surfaced. He was yanked out of the way before the jaw could snap closed. Naruto pivoted on his heel, pulling Gatōu out of the way and simultaneously knocking the alligator ten feet away from him with his foot. The reptile immediately dove for the water, in ways, more terrified than Gatōu himself. It was the small bit of youkai mixed in with Naruto's regular chakra that had kept the great beasts away from him before. Natural instinct kept all animals away from a demon as powerful as Kyuubi.

"So how about it?" Naruto said rather calmly, as if a huge reptile didn't just almost take a chunk out of him. Gatōu wasn't as skilled as Naruto at composing himself. The older man started to cry.

"I'll do whatever you want! I'll give you all of my money! Just get me away from this damn place!" he sobbed. Not feeling sorry for him one bit, Naruto smirked.

"That's what I thought, my good man. Now, let's talk about this lovely country and its very bright future..."

Xxxxxxx

Kakashi had a hidden smile on his face much later, when Naruto finalized the deal he got out of Gatōu. The businessman signed over all of his companies over to Tazuna, Sohma Hana and her group of ladies, and several other townsmen. All of the money in his bank was invested in the repairing and completion of the bridge. And the last thing that Naruto got out of Gatōu was that he never set his grubby feet in Wave Country or Fire Country ever again.

The once businessman would never terrorize a nation again, barely walking out of Wave Country alive, with nothing on him or in his banks accounts, but his life. Now he would know true poverty.

Kakashi had to hand it to Naruto. The boy was a natural at negotiation. It helped that Gatōu seemed to fear Naruto over all other things.

He sighed, somewhat sadly. Now that they were sure that the dealings had gone through without a hitch and Gatōu was never going to bother anyone again, their mission was more than complete. They would have to leave the new friends that they had acquired and head back to their home. A familiar pain that Kakashi had never gotten quite used to.

He generously gave his team a day for them to prepare to leave, an order that Gai echoed to his own team. The jonin was spending his day camped out in the Tazuna household backyard, high in one of the trees with his book in his hand. He wondered how his team would spend their last days with the many people they had made friends with in Wave Country.

Kakashi's attention was brought away from his book and his musings when he heard someone walk out of the back doors of the house.

Humming softly, Tsunami hung up the wet clothes to dry. She took down the dry ones and folded them, putting them in her basket.

"Shouldn't you be doing something, Kakashi-san?" she asked when he jumped down to greet her. The mother didn't even flinch, a sure sign that she was getting used to ninjas jumping in and out of nowhere. He grinned sheepishly. "Everyone else is saying their good byes."

"I don't like good byes." Kakashi said, slipping his book into his pocket. Tsunami smiled, picking up her basket.

"Yes, I'm afraid that I rather detest them myself." she admitted. Kakashi followed her into the house. "It's just so sad. Inari rarely has any friends, yet he has made friends with your team." A joyous sound of a boy laughing drifted into the house. Their heads turned toward it.

"..And the righteous rebellion shall knock your royal socks off, Emperor Inari!" They heard Naruto yell. There was muffled laughter.

"And the Emperor's ally, the Confederation of Sasuke, will join him in destroying the rebels." Sasuke said in a dry tone.

"Yay! Sasuke-bastard's playing!" Naruto's unmistakable yell.

"Then the Circle of Metal Wielding Ladies will join Naruto's rebellion to take down those in power."

"Yay! Sakura-chan! Wait.. 'Metal what-'"

"Just go with it, Naruto."

Tsunami smiled, laughing as she heard the kids' strange names for their factions. "Not a game I remember playing as a child.."

Kakashi shrugged. "Naruto's a ninja. Trust for him to come up with something that's violent." But that got him into thinking. Naruto never really 'played' with anyone. His pranks were the only source of entertainment he had. Yet he sounded so much happier playing with other kids than doing pranks by himself. Not to mention that Sasuke had relaxed enough to join in and Sakura, for once, didn't feel obligated to join the Uchiha's side.

"But, hopefully, this will bring out Inari's outgoing side. He could make some friends in the village." she continued. "But I don't think Inari will ever forget your team. Not by a long shot."

("Ammy! Haku! You guys wanna be royals or rebels?")

"You know.." Kakashi mused out loud. Yes. He could do that. For once in his life, he could take advantage of the jonin perks. "There's something called a Chunin Final Exam coming up in a little more than a month. There's more to the Chunin Exam, but outsiders only see the last portion of it, where the ninjas who made it all the way through the trials battle each other. You could, say, take a vacation to Konoha and swing by there. I'm allowed to invite four outsiders to any number of exams, but the chunin one is the closest. Naruto, Ammy, Sakura, and Sasuke are sure to be around." He grinned, his eye curving. "I'm going to enter them into the Exam. None of them will probably make it to the Finals, but they'd still want to watch it. It'll be a little violent though."

("I think I'll break away from the mold and be a hobo." Ammy chirped. "What about you Haku?"

"Same here," Haku replied with a wry grin. The others groaned.)

Tsunami slowly started to smile, warming up to the idea. "You know… Inari's birthday is around that time. We'll go on vacation and just won't tell him where." The two conspirators shared identical grins. "That's such a lovely idea, Kakashi-san."

In the end, the Confederation of Sasuke and the Emperor Inari proved to be too much for the Rebellion and the Circle. Sakura made a 'treaty' with Sasuke and Inari to end the 'gruesome battles'(Sakura did not like gobs of bubble gum in her equally pink hair), while Naruto 'fled' the country in disguise, becoming a fellow hobo to Ammy and Haku, swearing that one day, he'd be back!

At least, that's what they said when Kakashi asked who won.

The worn out genin, Inari, and Haku walked through the door. The mist nin was, for once, not dressed in his fighting clothes or his mask, but in black pants and a navy blue button up shirt. His hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

"Haku." Kakashi greeted. He lifted a hand in his customary wave, with the typical 'yo' added in. "Where are you and Zabuza going to go after this?" Tsunami set down several bowls of steaming ramen for the team, grabbing an extra chair for the older boy. Haku thanked her, sitting down between Ammy and Sakura.

"I don't know. It's up to Zabuza-san." he said, looking back at the jonin leaning against the wall. "He said for me to busy myself while he tries to figure out where we are to go next. So I came here."

"Why do ya gotta leave?" Inari asked between bites. He had forgiven the older nin for dragging him around and using him as bait. '_You gotta do what you gotta do,_' Inari thought. Haku had to work for Gatou, but wasn't Gatou himself, nor shared the same personality. As Kakashi had explained it, Haku was a mere tool, nothing more. Would you go after the katana that slew people or the person who wielded it? Kakashi's logic made sense to Inari. "You could just stay here."

"Haku and Zabuza are missing nin, 'Nari." Naruto said, nearly swallowing his entire bowl. Sakura kicked him, silently reminding him to use manners. He winced, and then made a face at the kunoichi. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Yes. Missing nin are often trailed by hunter nin. We missing nin have turned our backs on our village, thus we have fled with secrets of it and how it is formed. Hunter nin seek to end our lives." Haku said, starting to eat his ramen.

"Can't you just say sorry?" Inari asked, passing the remainder of his ramen to Naruto. Naruto whooped with happiness, nearly swallowing that bowl as well. Sakura gave up on him. Haku smiled and shook his head.

"Ninja villages, especially villages like the mist, don't accept apologies." Sasuke muttered, finally adding to the conversation. Naruto gave the puppy eyed look at Sasuke, his eyes shifting down at the dark ninja's nearly untouched ramen. Sasuke made a show of picking up his chopsticks and slowly eating it, savoring every noodle. Naruto's eyes went suspiciously shiny and he pouted. Haku grinned at their interaction.

"There are only two ways a missing nin can be relinquished of his status." Kakashi said, holding up two fingers. "One, they are killed. Two, they are accepted into a hidden village that is either allied with the village the nin is from, or the village the nin is from doesn't want to mess with the hidden village the nin is accepted into."

"Hey! Then why doesn't Haku and Zabuza come with us to Konoha?" Ammy asked as a smile broke out on her face. Naruto was about to jump and agree loudly until she hefted a dark glare that mellowed him out. He apparently got over the ramen dilemma. Naruto looked over to Haku, his eyes excited. "Yeah! You guys won't have people on your trail that will want to kill you anymore, and you'll get to work in the same village as us!" The blond was getting hyped up over his own idea while the others frowned and contemplated over what consequences would come to be if the two mist nin were accepted into Konoha.

"I don't know..." Haku said hesitantly. "It's really up to Zabuza-san..." Ammy started to walk out of the house, peeking her head back into the kitchen to say one last thing.

"Then I'll simply have to convince him that it is the best course of action!"

"Please?" Zabuza rolled his eyes. There he was, minding his own business (alright, he was making faces at passersby to pass the time, so what? Everyone has their own strange little hobbies), and Ammy suddenly ran up to him, running her mouth off about something or other. Okay, not running her mouth per se.

"Shut up, or I'll kill you." Several townspeople skittered away, but the one person that the threat was directed toward just rolled her eyes.

"Hmmmmm.. doubt that. But, pleeeeease consider it? It'll benefit you in the long run." The mist nin frowned, feeling lost.

"To do what?" Ammy sighed, then launched into an explanation, telling the older man that if he and Haku made a request to join Konoha, their lives would be so much easier, not to mention that they'd be around people they knew.

Now getting what the girl was rambling on about, Zabuza shrugged. "I like not being told what to do." he said doggedly. "Why would I walk into a death trap like that?"

Ammy swayed, looking wounded and acting dramatic. "I can see it now.." she clutched at her heart, as if the imagined pain was too much for her to bear. "Trudging through the unforgiving wilderness, hunter nin come upon an unsuspecting duo, bear down upon them, and kill them, ending a young life and a not so young life in lethal blows..." Zabuza scowled, not liking the old comment directed towards himself.

The last time Ammy had spread out a possible future for him and Haku, Zabuza had ended up ending a battle he didn't want to, getting shot at by his former employer, and possibly lowering his reputation down a smidge because he, for once, wasn't the one spreading the blood around.

"Ugh... Buzz off, brat." Zabuza grumbled. Ammy rolled her eyes yet again and begun to casually walk away from of the mist nin, hands behind her head. She turned around, walking backwards.

"You'll think about it?" she asked, sounding hopeful. Zabuza waved her away, grumbling about whiny brats. Taking that as a yes, Ammy left him to his peace... and left with him thoughts that annoyed him far more than the brunette could ever hope to.

"Damn brat."

Sakura walked back to the village, Tazuna and his suddenly replenished building crew ahead of her. The bridge was finally complete, Gatōu was no longer a threat, and their country would flourish with trade. Not to mention that their young men had come back that morning. All in all, they had much to celebrate.

"Sakura." She turned her head, a smile on her face when she saw who called out to her. He leaned against one of the power poles, his eyes focused on her and his face impassive. As always.

"Sasuke-kun!" Tazuna looked back, a grin on his face. Sakura silently asked for his permission with her eyes, even as she leaned in Sasuke's direction.

"Go ahead. We can find our way to our houses." he said humorously. She thanked him, skipping over to her team mate.

"Hi!" He nodded to her and started to walk. She followed him. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

He looked troubled for a moment, then took her arm, pulling her toward one of the restaurants. "Let's eat first." Sakura blinked in surprise, then flushed.

'_This is a date… isn't it? Ha! Take that, Ino!'_ Inner Sakura crowed, punching her fist into the air. They sat at the counter, Sasuke ordering something for them. Their orders were brought back to them with haste, the chef recognizing them as part of the team that ended Gatōu's tyranny.

Sakura said nothing to Sasuke, the same treatment being reflected back to her, until they were done eating. Truthfully, she could have and probably would have talked his ear off the entire time, but her focus kept on shifting from the boy next to her to another boy she was curious about. Just when she thought she understood Naruto and Ammy, they had to pull something like they did on the bridge!

Sasuke's thoughts were much the same. That last attack that Naruto and Ammy used was incredibly powerful, not like anything he had ever seen before in his entire life. What was stronger, this 'Kumiawase: Akuma Fureā', or Kakashi's chidori? He was leaning toward the Akuma Fureā, even though he had yet to see the chidori's full effects yet.

But even more important than that, where had Naruto and Ammy learned that technique? Who had taught them it? And when had they the time to learn it? So many questions… Sasuke hated unanswered questions. And he had a feeling that his other two teammates would be as forthcoming with the answers as Kakashi was willing to show the world the bottom portion of his face.

The chef refused to let them pay, saying that it was nothing compared to what they had done for their country.

They walked back to Tazuna's home, their own thoughts isolating them from one another, but bringing them together at the same time.

"Have you noticed, in our group, how.." Sasuke started to say. He paused, trying to think of a good way to word it. Sakura finished his question.

"'How strange it's been lately?' Yes." Sakura folded her arms in front of her. She looked pensive, and decided to throw out the idea she had been harboring about Naruto. "Do you think that Naruto is related to the Inuzukas?"

"Them? Why?"

"It's just.. Kiba was showing off once, back in the Academy. And then that time with the genjutsu when we were fighting Naruto. Kiba and his dog turned into these... feral Kibas. It was a type of bunshin skill, I think. But it reminds me of how Naruto changed. He looked... like Kiba did." she explained, sighing when she couldn't even understand what she was trying to get across.

Luckily, Sasuke did. "Yes, I remember." he said. "I think that Kiba borrowed physical attributes from his dog, and his dog borrowed physical attributes from Kiba, and then that brought along a sort of hybrid looking bunshin. Half dog, half human. Naruto did look a lot like that, but there was no animal around that he could have borrowed it from, so no. I don't think he is related to the Inuzuka family."

Sakura sighed. So much for her theory. "Then.. what the heck was that on the bridge?" Sasuke could only shrug.

"You said the healing was his blood limit. Perhaps there was another part of that blood limit that he didn't tell you about." he said, looking over at her. They stopped walking. "Maybe becoming red eyed and vampire like is part of his blood limit." Sasuke said with a smirk.

Sakura scowled. She felt an overwhelming need to defend Naruto, if only because he wasn't there to defend himself. "Look who's talking, you hypocrite! It's not like you didn't go red eyed yourself." She turned slightly, missing Sasuke's shocked face. "Hey, maybe he's related to you. Red eyed, vampire like changes- hey!" Sasuke had turned her around.

"My eyes turned red!" he asked urgently. Sakura blinked.

"Yup. Scared me for a minute. Then it faded. Then reappeared again. It was really annoying. I think Naruto saw it, but he didn't say anything." Sasuke's grip on her arm tightened a little.

"What did it look like!"

"Um..." she looked into his eyes, her own glazing over a little as she tried to remember. "Well, red. Your pupils were black, obviously. A faint.. darker red or maybe even black circle was around your pupil. It wasn't solid, it was actually pretty faint. And we can't forget the strange comma things around your pupil too."

Sasuke looked stricken. He backed up a few paces, letting go of her arm. "How many?" he asked, his voice a lot softer. His head tilted down, long black bangs covering his eyes.

"Two in each eye." Sakura murmured, her eyes darkening with worry for her team mate. She walked up to him, pushing his bangs out of the way to look him in the eye. "You seem to know what it is. Can you tell me?" His eyes wouldn't meet hers. "Please?" she added quietly, her voice taking on a pleading tone. Sakura felt so out of the loop. Naruto, the dead last of their entire class, turned out be some sort of hidden genius with a weird blood limit, and even though they had been on the subject, the damn blond left out the most important parts of what made him different. And then there was Kakashi and the constant shroud of mysteriousness that he just had to have around him, and now Sasuke! Weren't they supposed to be a team? Shouldn't things like that be shared with everyone else?

It's not like she kept things from her friends. They were her friends, right? It just wasn't fair! She took a step back, pasting a smile on her face.

"It's alright, you don't have to tell me anything." Sakura said, turning away. "Let's just go back to Tazuna's and-" Sasuke caught her wrist again. She looked down at it, both in surprise and to marvel the contrast her lightly tanned arm made against his pale hand. Her eyes slowly met the eyes of the hand's owner.

Sasuke stared at her, trying to make a decision. She did say that she wanted to be his friend, and he supposed that friends shared some aspects of their lives with each other. But it was so personal. Then a fleeting thought caught his mind's attention. A memory of how terrified he was when he was changed into a little boy and thought that Sakura was going to die.

If Itachi ever targeted his friends, she would have to know more about the clan, more about that.. man, if she was to have a chance to escape from him. His decision was made. He wasn't going to lose another person that was important to him just because he didn't like talking about things that were personal.

"It's called a sharingan. Sharingan is a blood limit of the eyes, just like the Hyuuga's Byakugan, but where all the Hyuugas have the Byakugan at birth, only a very small percentage of the Uchihas ever awake the ability." Sasuke's eyes shifted to his shoulder, clouding over in remembrance of an event long past. The dark orbs shifted back to her. "My clan was both the weakest and the strongest of all of the clans in Konoha. We were weak because most of us barely had enough power to become genin, and we were strong because the few of us that could become stronger ended up being the strongest ninjas in our village. It was that complete contrast in power that my clan could both be completely annihilated in one single night by one of it's members, and also for its murderer to be so powerful that no other ninja could avenge the Uchiha clan." His voice was tight and hot in suppressed anger. Sasuke looked over her head, seeing something she could not in the wall behind her, something only a mind reader or a kami could pull out of him.

Sakura had heard it before, whispered bits of a story passing from adult to adult to silently make its way into her ear. She had heard bits and pieces of it from her own team as well.

The Uchiha clan was destroyed in one bloody night, leaving Sasuke as the only heir to the blood limit. But what Sasuke was saying was that the person who murdered all of those people was an Uchiha himself.

"And… you are the avenger." It was simple. So utterly simple that Sakura could have smacked herself for not really realizing the extent of Sasuke's quiet 'ambition', one that he had told the rest of the team so long ago. It really said something when Naruto, who really was a complete idiot unless he put his mind to something, understood their often quiet and aloof team mate better than she did, the supposed 'smart' person of their rag tag team. Sasuke nodded sharply.

"There is no one else. He will pay for what he did to them." he said, his voice lowering. She ignored the slight pain she felt when Sasuke's grip on her wrist, which he still hadn't let go of, increased.

"And toyou, Sasuke-kun." Sakura whispered. He blinked, not knowing what to say to that. Sakura took a step forward, wanting him to see the sincerity of her eyes. He let go of her wrist and she rubbed it absently.

"You know, you aren't alone. I- I mean, we.. Team Seven's here for you. We'll help you with your vengeance. We'll go to the ends of the earth with you, find this guy, and help you fulfil your ambition." she said. Sasuke started to shake his head.

"No, an avenger is always alone. I started this alone, and I'm going to finish it alone and-" This time, it was she who grabbed his arm.

"Why do things by the book? That idea, of all things, should be the one thing you learned from Kakashi-sensei." Sakura smiled. "You can have your revenge. We won't hinder you, or get in your way when you fight. There is a lot more to a team than just working from eight to five together. It's about working to like one another, to put yourself on the line for your team mates. It's about not understanding them at all, yet knowing them like the back of your hand. It's about giving support when you can't help them out physically. It's about.." she uncurled his fists and gently pulled on the bandages, making then unravel, "healing your friends." Sakura curled her hand over the half healed wounds. A warm tingling feeling went up and down Sasuke's arm when chakra seeped into the cut and bruised knuckles. "Giving their wounds, may they be mental or physical, comfort." She took her hands away, revealing uncut skin. Sasuke's eyes widened, taking in the unblemished skin. He met her eyes as she smiled.

"Yeah, it's like that." she said. Sasuke smiled. It was small, but it was a start. She had a head start in the healing of his physical wounds, but she had a long way to go to heal the mental wounds.

"Get away from my Sakura-san!" And then like that, a touching scene was abruptly ended. Lee ran up, his face flushed with exertion.. or maybe anger? Sasuke and Sakura pulled away, realizing how close they were. They both flushed.

I didn't do it Mommy, honest! Inner Sakura whimpered.

Moving instinctively, Sasuke put himself between Sakura and a rapidly approaching Lee. Why he'd see an ally as a threat to him and Sakura was something even he didn't understand.

Lee came to a stop in front of Sasuke. He put his hands on his knees and wheezed for air. Maybe his sudden change in color had to do with a mix of both anger and exertion.

Sakura peeked around Sasuke's shoulder. "Why are you breathing so hard, Lee-san?" The green clad ninja seemed to blossom at the mere sound of her voice. He promptly forgot that the Uchiha had been close.. too close, to his fair lady.

"I was running laps around the village, Sakura-san!" he chirped. "Of course, this village isn't hardly as big as Konoha, but I've been running ever since the crack of Dawn and.." he kept rambling on.

"Sakura.." Sasuke muttered in annoyance, "You just had to ask.."

**A.N Hello there! Nice to see you guys again xD Sorry about posting a day later than I wanted, but I had a graduation to attend. And, no. Not my graduation. (Thank god. I'm still too immature to live without a 'safety net'.) So, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and since I have over 2,000 views to my fic now, I wanted to post something. It will be an omake by a friend. She wrote it during my learning experience at writing The New Girl to piss me off. Needless to say, I wasn't. Yeah. Check it out as a gift from me (and my friend) to you. Yeah. So thanks to my reviewers:**

Strife666

summerhazel

Arthain

Akashi Ookami

DarkFlareX

Sayonara Yasashii Akumu

and my five guest reviewers!

** Thank you! And continue on with those reviews! Reviews are like food to me, and i'm starving! xD Later!**

**p.s. My update dates are updated! Check my profile!**


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